Someone to Rely On
by Cerez
Summary: Everyone needs someone they can rely on. For Kurt, that person is Blaine. The problem is that Blaine is afraid to rely on anyone. HOGWARTS AU.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: Since we have only seen the one Klaine kiss, we can all safely assume I have not been given ownership rights of Glee. And as far as Harry Potter goes, last time I checked, I still only have about five dollars in my bank account, so I doubt I own that either.**

**A/N: Okay, so originally I had planned to keep this story to myself until I had about half of it written, but here I am posting it despite that fact that I'm only about half way through the second chapter.**

**I don't know how long this story will be, but the way things are going with the second chapter and due to all of the ideas bouncing like mad in my head, I'm guessing it won't be short. That is, unless everyone hates it and chases me away with medium sized mallets. But we'll see.**

* * *

><p>Kurt hadn't much cared when his father had told him that they would be moving to England after Burt was married. It wasn't as if Kurt was attached to anyone or anything in Lima, Ohio. On the contrary, he hated it there.<p>

Kurt was muggle born, and had been raised accordingly. Before his eleventh birthday, he had attended the McKinley Elementary School in Lima, where he had been teased on a daily basis for his differences. He had a strong, unwavering love of musicals, singing and fashionable clothing accompanied by an equally strong hatred for sports and getting dirty. Given the choice, he would have picked making lanyards with the girls over playing kickball with the boys, which, of course, hadn't done him any favors in the friends department, but Kurt Hummel had never been one to apologize for himself.

Still, for all of his bravado, it hadn't kept him from being miserable at school.

Therefore, naturally, Kurt had been over the moon when he found out that he was a wizard. Being a wizard meant a new school, new people, and a fresh start. Burt Hummel, who had raised Kurt on his own after Elizabeth Hummel's death, had been overwhelmed by the sudden entrance of magic into their lives, but supportive none the less.

Burt had made it a point to educate himself about the world that his son was born to be a part of, something for which Kurt would always be grateful. His father had been with Kurt every step of the way; traveling with Kurt to buy his wand, scowling in confusion over Kurt's spell books, and taking sideways and slightly fearful glances at all of the 'magical people' they passed by. On his first day of school, Burt had surprised Kurt with his very own owl, whom Kurt had named Pavaroti, and waved goodbye to Kurt with a supportive smile on his face as he wished Kurt well on his first day at McKinley School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Kurt loved the magical world. He loved performing and studying spells, and for the first time in his life, he had loved school. Or rather, he loved the academic aspect of it, since relations with his peers remained difficult and strained. Wizard children, he learned fast, could be just as cruel as muggle children.

He also learned that magical torment was much worse than the muggle kind for the simple fact that magical bullying was much more intense and harder to bare than the non-magical kind. During his first few years at school, his hair was charmed pink at least once a week, he spent more time suspended upside down in midair than he did right side up on his feet, and his clothes were in a constant danger of being altered or ruined in some irreparable way. And when he was old enough to fully recognize that fact that he was gay, it seemed that everyone else somehow automatically knew as well, and the bullying morphed into the homophobic kind.

He lost track of the amount of times some passerby in the halls charmed his shirt to flash FAG or QUEER across the front.

As his torment went, Kurt gave as good as he got. He made sure that every last one of his bullies knew that picking on Kurt Hummel put them in serious risk of getting their face transfigured or their clothing shrunken to discomforting and oftentimes even painful sizes. Even still, the constant struggle got real old real fast, which was why he hadn't put up a fuss about the move to England.

Plus, he absolutely adored his new stepmother, Carol. She was kind, accepting, and willing to be Kurt's fashion guinea pig. Also, she was a witch and could act as a role model to Kurt in ways that his muggle father couldn't.

His father had met Carol when Kurt was fourteen. She worked for the World Ministry of Magic and was in charge of all departments relating to Muggles. She had been sent to the United States for a year while her son, Finn, was away at boarding school to get the American Ministry up to speed on the new regulations and developments. Upon their meeting, she had been tracking down an illegal magically enhanced Corvette, which she had found in Burt's garage. Kurt had watched them make a horribly awkward attempt at flirting before he had decided to intervene. Long story short, his matchmaking skills hadn't failed him. The two had been married just two weeks ago; sixteen months after their initial meeting.

And as far as his new stepbrother went, Kurt liked him as well. Finn, while perhaps taking his new role as the slightly older sibling a bit too far at times, was a nice guy who had the decency not to freak out about Kurt's being gay. Early on in their parents' courtship, they had bonded over Finn's girl troubles, which seemed to occur at least once a week, and had struck an odd friendship.

A knock on his open door broke into Kurt's private musings and he turned to find Carol smiling a bit unsurely at him in the doorway. "How are you adjusting, honey?" she asked, her soft spoken voice soothing. It was so different from his father's, which was male (obviously) and gruff.

Kurt paused in his packing to give Carol his full attention, motioning for her come into the room and then gesturing for her to sit in their chair by his bed. He would have offered the bed for a place to sit, but it was full of his clothes. He had known that he would only be in the Hudson house for three days before he went to Hogwarts, but designer clothing simply did not belong folded in a trunk no matter how short the stay. So, he had unpacked and was now repacking.

"Everything is happening fast, but I'm managing alright," he said, answering Carol's question. It was true. He was good at enduring. It was what he did best.

Carol sighed and folded her hands in her lap. "Well, then you are handling all of this far better than I am. I was really hoping to spend some more time together as a family first before you boys went off to Hogwarts. I'm worried that you haven't had any time to adjust to all of this. You and your father have only been here three days, after all."

"Don't be worried. It's not as if I'll be completely alone. Finn will be there. I'm sure everything will be fine." Well, as fine as things could be for fashion forward gay male who wasn't afraid to be himself despite the fact that being himself was apparently a punishable offense. But that was neither here nor there. At least this time he wouldn't be walking into a new school with the very delusional assumption that a change in scenery would be the solution to all of his problems. He wasn't expecting life at Hogwarts to be any better or worse than what it had been like at McKinley. No one could accuse him of being pessimistic. He wasn't exactly optimistic, either. Oh, well.

A series of loud crashes cut into their conversation. Kurt jumped at the sudden nose, yelping. Carol, on the other hand, groaned and rolled her eyes.

"That would be Puck," she said as she stood. Curious as to who or what exactly a Puck was, Kurt followed her out of his room.

The hallway was dark as pitch, the air covered in a dense cloud of black dust. Kurt couldn't see anything, but Carol didn't seem phased by it because she stepped into the smog without hesitating. From somewhere in the darkness, Kurt could hear uproarious laughter.

"You're so dead," Kurt heard Finn announce to someone unseen. "Just wait till my mum sees what you did."

"Noah Puckerman, how many times have I asked you not to set off Weasleys Wizard Wheezes products in my home?"

The fog finally dissipated and Kurt saw Carol standing with her wand in hand and her arms folded across her chest. Standing a little ways down the hall was Finn, who had a look on his face somewhere between gleeful and terrified, and another boy with tanned skin, a Mohawk, and a yeah-it-was-me-so-what expression on his attractive face.

"This will be the absolute last time, Mrs. H."

"Like I believe that."

Puck just smirked cheekily at her and Kurt watched as Carol rolled her eyes once again, only this time there was a small grin playing at her lips. "Just don't blow anything up, hmm? In the meantime, though, I'm going to start dinner." She turned to Finn. "Why don't you introduce Puck to Kurt?"

Both boys turned to look at Kurt and it was clear that neither had noticed him standing there before. "Oh, hey, Kurt. This is Puck," Finn said unnecessarily. "That's Kurt."

"Oi," Puck said, jerking his chin up in greeting.

Kurt cocked an eyebrow. "Hello."

"A man with an accent. American, right."

"Yes."

Puck looked Kurt slowly up and down, smirking at Kurt's Doc Martins and his colorful Alexander McQueen scarf. "Nice outfit," he said with a smirk, though it wasn't necessarily unkind. Just playful.

Kurt's raised brow climbed slightly higher. "Problem?"

"Dunno yet."

"That's reassuring," Kurt said in a dry voice.

"Innit?"

Kurt rolled his eyes and Puck laughed as he turned to walk into Finn's room. Finn shuffled a bit closer to his room as well but didn't go inside. "Uh… Don't, er, mind him. He's…"

"Eccentric?" Kurt offered.

Finn frowned. "Umm, sure. I guess?"

"It's okay, Finn. I'm used to it."

"Right. Okay. Right."

Needing to escape Finn's awkwardness, Kurt smiled a little and said, "Well, I've got to finish packing. See you at dinner."

He hadn't been in his room five minutes before yet another explosion went off, followed by laughter and yelling.

* * *

><p>Thirteen hours later saw the new Hummel-Hudson family at Platform 9 ¾.<p>

"I still can't believe we ran through a wall to get here," Burt remarked as the family made their way towards the train. Kurt couldn't help but agree with his father that the experience had been more than a little weird.

"It certainly is quite the experience your first time through," Carol agreed. "At the beginning of Finn's second year, he ran at the wrong wall and wound up flipping over his trolley and breaking his wrist. It was a mess."

Kurt swung around to give his stepmother a disbelieving look. "Please tell me you're joking."

"Aw, Mum! Don't tell them that!" Finn protested.

But Carol waved Finn off. "Completely serious, I'm afraid. We had to rush him to St. Mungo's since the last time I tried to heal an injury myself it was a disaster."

"Why?" Kurt asked. "What happened?"

"Well, I accidentally-"

"Okay!" Finn interrupted loudly. "We should probably get on the train now."

Kurt eyed his stepbrother carefully, watching as Finn shot his mother a silencing look and grabbed at his trunk. Carol's demeanor instantly changed as her eyes teared up a bit. "Promise you'll try to write more this year," she told her son, and Kurt knew that his chances of getting the rest of that story were shot. He would just have to remember to ask her about it some other time.

Burt dropped a hand on Kurt's shoulder. "Hey, uh, I'm gonna miss you, kid. A lot." He lifted his red cap off his head to swipe at his forehead nervously before tugging it back on. "Look, you've been great through all this. I know it's got to be hard, moving to a new country when you're sixteen, but - and I know I don't say this as much as I should - I love you, Kurt."

Kurt felt his own eyes tear as Burt pulled him close for a tight hug. They had never been a part before. Ever. McKinley hadn't been a boarding school like Hogwarts was. And Burt was Kurt's everything. "I love you too, Dad. And you say it enough." Kurt sniffled. "I'll miss you, too."

"Take care of yourself, okay? And if anything happens that I need to know about, you tell me."

"I will," Kurt whispered even as he knew that he wouldn't. He had never told his Dad about how hard he had it at school. Not directly, at least. However, Burt knew that Kurt didn't have any friends and it didn't take an genius to figure out that typically that meant something was wrong. After years of strained interrogations, Burt had finally accepted Kurt's promise that he would let Burt know if things at school became too difficult for him to handle. It had been an empty promise, but Kurt didn't allow himself to feel too badly about it. Knowing the extent of Kurt's torment would break Burt's heart and Burt already had enough heart troubles without Kurt adding to them. Besides, his father accepted him for who he was. As far as Kurt was concerned, as long as Burt still loved him despite the fact that Kurt was gay, everyone else could rot.

Burt cleared his throat and pulled back from the hug, scratching just under his eyes as if he had an itch, but Kurt knew better. "Have fun, okay. I love you." Finn was already walking towards the train, waving as he went.

"I will. Love you, too. Bye, Dad," Kurt said as he lifted Pavarotti's cage and tipped his trunk. "Bye, Carol."

The short woman leaned in to give Kurt a light squeeze. "Bye, sweetheart. I'll miss you. Don't forget to write."

"I wont," he promised.

The train gave a loud whistle and Kurt hurried to place his trunk in the loading pile before dropping Pavarotti off with the other caged animals. "See you soon, Pavarotti," he told the little yellow elf owl. Pavarotti chirped and Kurt smiled at him before turning to climb aboard, sparing his father and Carole one last wave.

The train was huge and had a number of compartments. Finn offered the one he was sharing with Puck and some other boys but Kurt declined, saying he was tired and was going in search of an empty compartment so that he could nap. Once he found what he was looking for he made himself comfortable on the cushioned bench and placed his headphones in his ears and busied himself with listening to the songs on his iPod.

After listening to Rent and Gypsy, Kurt was half way through Wicked when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He opened his eyes to find a rather attractive boy with curly black hair and the most triangular eyebrows Kurt had ever seen leaning over him. The boy's mouth was moving, but Kurt couldn't hear him. Kurt sat up and pulled out his ear buds. "What was that?"

The boy was looking at Kurt's iPod with a confused expression on his face. After several seconds of silence, Kurt ducked his head a little bit to try and get in the boy's line of sight and rose his eyebrows at him in a silent "yes?"

"Sorry," the boy apologized, catching Kurt's look. He shook himself a little before offering Kurt a wide smile that made his eyes crinkle. "Hi! I just wanted to tell you that we are almost there. You might want to change into your robes." His energy reminded Kurt of a really excited puppy. On crack.

"Oh, okay. Thanks," Kurt said, noticing the badge on the boy's robes that declared him a Prefect, which, according to Finn, was a kind of hall monitor or something.

The boy's smile softened and Kurt felt his stomach flutter. When he wasn't grinning as if he were in some sort of pain, this boy was absolutely gorgeous.

"No problem," he said to Kurt. "Oh, and by the way, your singing voice is absolutely beautiful."

Kurt felt his face grow instantly hot as blood rushed to pool in his cheeks. His heart hammered in his chest and embarrassment reared its head, pressing down on his bones like dead weight. He tried to think of something to say but his brain was coming up short and surely 'guh!' wasn't an appropriate response. But thankfully the other boy simply grinned at Kurt and left.

Kurt sat there stupidly for a minute or so before he finally closed his slack jaw with a clap of his teeth and forced himself to stand. Scowling at himself, he left the compartment in search of where ever his trunk might be, willing himself to calm down as he went. The boy had been attractive, yes, damningly so, but not enough to excuse that fact that Kurt had made a complete idiot of himself.

In the midst of berating himself, a short girl stepped abruptly into his path and Kurt shot to his tiptoes mid-step to keep from slamming into her. He steadied himself on the wall with a hand before rocking back onto the heals of his feet.

"You look lost," she said without preamble.

Kurt stared mutely at her.

She thrust her hand out. "Hello. I'm Rachael Berry. I'm a sixth year Gryffindor Prefect and future Head Girl of Hogwarts. While an elevation of my status in this school from Prefect to Head Girl is inevitable, I am still determined to assist as many troubled students as I possibly can and _you_," she smiled wide in a way Kurt figured was _supposed_ to be accommodating, "look lost." She said all of this very fast, with only very short breaths between sentences.

"Okay, is everyone in this school on drugs?"

Rachel frowned and tilted her head a bit to the side. "Drugs?"

"Never mind," Kurt waved his hand dismissively. "I actually am lost. Can you tell me where I need to go to find my trunk so I can change into my uniform?"

"Sure!" she said brightly. "This way. So, you're new. And American."

This American thing was going to get old quickly, he was sure, but he tried not to let that show. "Yes on both accounts."

"Have you been to New York?"

Kurt shook his head. "No, I'm from Ohio."

"Oh. I've never been to New York, either. I really want to go, though. I don't know if you know anything about muggle life there, but in New York the muggles put on these beautiful singing performances called Broadway plays. Well, anyway, I really want to see one. One of my two gay dads is a muggle."

Kurt visibly brightened at all of this information. "I know all about Broadway. I'm muggle born. What's your favorite play?"

"_Wicked_ without a doubt."

"Mine too!" Kurt said excitedly. He had never had anyone to talk to about this stuff before. "I've been saving up for it, though I just about cried when I first found out that Idina Menzel was leaving."

"Oh, I _know_!"

He and Rachel kept up a steady conversation about the perfection that was Broadway until they were just about at Hogwarts and she had to return to the Prefects car. Kurt waved her off as he adjusted the robs he had dressed himself in after she had shown him where he could find his things.

In his Hogwarts letter, it had been explained to Kurt that he would need to be sorted into a house on the first day of school and that he was to join the first years to the castle once the train reached its destination.

When the train came to a full stop, Kurt followed all of the other students in his car to the exit, not really knowing where he was going. He had been too distracted by the prospect of talking show tunes with someone to think to ask Rachel where he needed to go. He tried to look for Finn but there were too many people and it was too dark outside.

"FIRS' YEARS! THIS WAY FIRS' YEARS! ALL O' YEH COME DOWN THIS WAY TER ME!"

Well, then.

Following the sound of the booming voice, Kurt gasped a bit when his gaze finally settled on an ungodly huge and burly looking man with a head full of wild, untamed hair. Just looking at the man made Kurt's hair want to frizz and he unconsciously reached up to pat it down. Trying not to cringe at the sight of the man's dirty, pocket laden mass of leather he wore as a coat, Kurt made his way over towards the man and the small group of kids surrounding him.

"'Ello, there," the man greeted Kurt with a kind smile that Kurt hadn't been expecting from someone so scruffy and large. "Los' yer way? Yer look a bit old to be a firs' year."

"Um, no. I'm actually a sixth year, but this is my first year at Hogwarts. In my letter I was told to join the first years up to castle."

"That's right! You must be Kurt, then. Headmistress McGonagall told me that yeh'd be joinin' us. I'm Hagrid, keeper of the keys and the Care of Magical Creatures professor."

"Nice to meet you, Professor," Kurt said politely.

"Jus' Hagrid is fine," he told Kurt bashfully, going a bit red as he turned to look around at the wide eyed eleven year olds. "Alrigh' that everyone? All o' yer come follow me down to the boats."

When Kurt reached the boats he had to remind himself that he was _not_ wearing his two hundred dollar skinny jeans anymore and therefore did _not_ need to cringe at the thought of sitting himself down on the damp, murky looking wooden bench, but it was still a difficult thing. His uniform wasn't very fashionable and certainly wasn't of the designer caliber but that didn't mean he wanted it getting dirty either.

He sat down slowly and carefully with his arms bent at the elbow and tucked tight against his sides.

Kurt turned when a small boy tapped him lightly on the shoulder and his eyes widened at the sight of the boy's bright turquoise hair. "Wotcher," the boy said in a quiet voice. Whatever that meant. "Mind if I sit here?" he asked, pointing to the empty place beside Kurt.

Kurt scooted down a bit to make more room. "No, of course not. Go for it."

The boy smiled shyly and sat down next to Kurt, who did a double take when the boy's hair suddenly turned yellow. Noticing that he had garnered Kurt's attention, the boy blushed, looking completely uncomfortable and embarrassed and his hair turned pink. He frowned hard at his hands.

"I wish my hair could do that," Kurt said softly.

The boy looked up at him with wide, skeptical eyes. "You… do?"

"Sure. It would take color coordination to a whole new level," Kurt chuckled to himself. "Can you change it into whatever color you want to?" he asked although he already knew the answer.

"Yeah." The boy scowled adorably, but looked slightly more relaxed. His hair turned back to turquoise. "But my gran says that my control over it wont be so great for the next few years."

Kurt nodded. "You're a metamorphmagus, right?" he asked. Again, he knew the answer. He also knew that the boy's shabby control over his abilities was a puberty thing. It would right itself in a few years.

"Yeah. My mom was, too."

The use of the past tense wasn't lost on Kurt but he knew better then to comment on it. "I'm Kurt Hummel."

"Ted Lupin."

Just then, the dense fog that hung over the lake cleared and Kurt turned his attention to the awing sight of the castle. The warm light from within Hogwarts glowed in the night and reflected beautifully in the black lake. All conversation on the boats ceased as everyone turned to observe the magnificent structure.

No one spoke again until the boats came to a stop at their own accord and when Hagrid stood up from the one he occupied all on his own, everyone else followed suit.

They were ushered inside the castle where a small man who was no doubt at least part goblin stood at the entrance waiting to greet them. "Welcome to Hogwarts, everyone," he said in a squeaky voice. "I am Professor Flitwick. Please follow me into the Great Hall where you will be sorted into one of our four houses: Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin."

Upon entry of the Great Hall, Kurt and the first years immediately looked up at the ceiling, eyes wide.

"It's bewitched to look like the night sky," Ted said softly from beside Kurt. "My godfather's best friend told me. She knows everything about Hogwarts."

"It's amazing," Kurt said.

Once they were standing at the front of the incredibly large room, Kurt began to feel self conscious. In the last year alone, he had grown four inches, which put him just shy of five foot eleven inches, and meant that next to the rather small first years, he looked sorely out of place. He could feel about every pair of eyes in the room boring into the back of his skull, which was just perfect given the sad state that he just _knew_ his hair was in after that boat ride. There was a reason why he did not enjoy spending long amounts of time outdoors.

Professor Flitwick, who had disappeared behind a door that was to the left of the staff table, reappeared with a ratty looking hat in his hand. Kurt's eyes went wide.

_Oh god. Please tell me I don't have to put that on my head…_

Besides the fact that it looked about one thousand years old, the hat's faded brown color clashed horribly with his black school robes.

Kurt's eyebrows rose when the hat began to sing. Seriously? Did no one else find this entirely strange? A quick look around at the rapt faces of his fellow students told him no. Kurt forced his eyebrows back down and tried to look politely indifferent.

Once the song was finished, Flitwick unrolled a long scroll that was long enough to brush the floor. "When I call your name, please come to the front, sit on the stool, and place the hat on your head to be sorted," he instructed. "Arnold, Jillian!"

Kurt and the rest of the school watched as a small, mousy looking girl with deep red hair walked forward. The hat was on her head for about a second before it shouted "SLYTHERIN!"

The people sitting at the table all the way to Kurt's right clapped loudly for her, smug looks on most of their faces, as she hopped off the stool and walked over. The name calling commenced and Kurt spent the time waiting for his name to be called studying the other students' reactions to the sorting. The Gryffindor table was the loudest of the four groups, cheering raucously whenever the hat sorted someone into their house. The Ravenclaws clapped politely for their new housemates and were by far the most reserved. The Hufflepuffs looked to be the friendliest - several would jump up to give welcoming pats on the back to the newcomers. The Slytherins continued to look smug, as if each new arrival to their table was earning them some sort of points.

Kurt didn't much care where he went so long as he wasn't sorted into Hufflepuff. That brownish yellow color they were required to wear was atrocious. He prided himself on being fabulous, but not even he could pull that sickly color off.

"Hummel, Kurt!"

Someone - Kurt suspected Noah Puckerman - whooped loudly and continuously at Kurt's name being called and a stern looking woman sitting in the Headmistress' chair - something McGonagall, if Kurt remembered correctly from his letter - looked sharply over in the direction of the Gryffindor table. Sure enough, Puck was screaming his head off with his hands cupped around his mouth to amplify the noise he was making.

Kurt picked up the hat up off the stool by its tip before sitting down and gingerly placing it on his head.

"Well now," a low voice said in his ear, "it certainly has been a while since I've encountered such stubborn courage. Very stubborn. A great wit and intelligence, as well - an abundance of both. But there is something just bellow the surface - something… wholly insecure. Ha! But I can see you don't like hearing _that_ now do you? Better make it RAVENCLAW!"

The Ravenclaws didn't shout loudly like the Gryffindors would have done, nor did they jump out of their seats to make room for him as the Hufflepuffs did, but he felt content with the hat's choice just the same as he made his way to the table in between the Hufflepuff and Slytherin tables. Looking to his far left, at the Gryffindor table, he finally caught sight of Finn, who smiled at Kurt and gave him a thumbs up. Puck, who was sitting next to Finn, grinned devilishly. Kurt scowled back at him and Puck laughed.

Kurt took a seat at the end of the table with the other first years who had been sorted into Ravenclaw. He felt sort of like the babysitter but ignored the feeling to watch the rest of the sorting. He clapped a little bit louder than everyone else for Ted Lupin, who was sorted into Hufflepuff.

Once the sorting was over, the Headmistress stood to welcome everyone once more and informed them that (as always, apparently) the Forbidden Forest was strictly off limits to all students. She mentioned one or two more things before declaring the feast officially started and Kurt watched as the plates in the middle of the table all filled with food. His mouth watered at the sight of a vibrantly colored pasta salad and Kurt wasted no time in putting several spoonfuls of it on his plate. McKinley certainly hadn't had food like this.

He was about half way through his meal when the curly haired boy from the train sat down next to him.

"Congratulations on getting Ravenclaw," the boy said and for the first time Kurt noticed the blue tie that indicated the boy was also in Ravenclaw. Kurt was usually better at paying close attention to detail, especially when it came to clothing, but in his defense, he didn't think he had ever seen a pair of hazel eyes quite so distracting - Kurt couldn't make up his mind on whether they were a light brown, a really earthy green, or somewhere stuck between the two.

"I'm Blaine Anderson," the boy - or Blaine, rather - said as he held out his hand, which Kurt gave a light shake.

"Kurt Hummel," Kurt said.

Blaine released Kurt's hand. "So, you're a bit tall for an eleven year old," he teased.

"You noticed that, huh?"

"Yes, but if you're keeping it a secret, I promise not to tell."

Kurt laughed, but didn't say anything. He was out of practice at having civil conversations with other guys. If Blaine had been sneering at him or trying to hex him, Kurt would have been more in his element.

But Blaine continued talking as if he somehow sensed that it was up to him to lead the conversation. "So, I'm going to guess you're either year five or year six."

Kurt rose a brow. "But not year seven?"

"Oh, I refuse to believe that," Blaine smiled, and before Kurt could ask why, Blaine asked, "So, am I right?"

Kurt studied Blaine's handsome face. There was nothing untoward to be found there, but Kurt got the feeling he was missing something. "You have to take a guess at one or the other before I can answer."

"Well, I'm hoping six."

"Why hoping?" Kurt asked before Blaine could change the subject again.

Blaine shrugged. "It would be nice to have a new face in the dorms instead of the ugly mugs I've been forced to look at for the past five years."

"We heard that!" Someone shouted from the middle of the table, but Kurt didn't see who. Blaine laughed without taking his eyes off of Kurt.

Kurt wasn't sure whether there was a deeper meaning behind this conversation. He had never really flirted with anyone before and wasn't sure if that's what this was. Of course, Blaine could be completely straight and was just being friendly. So, Kurt went with a noncommittal, "Is that so?"

"About the rest of the sixth year boys being trolls? Oh, absolutely. Not me, of course. I'm cute."

"You wish, Anderson! My ass is cuter!" someone - again, Kurt didn't see who (Blaine was too distracting) - yelled, which was followed by loud laughter. Kurt ignored it to raise and eyebrow at Blaine.

"Cute, huh?" he asked.

Blaine grinned. "Positively adorable."

Kurt would have to agree. But he wasn't going to say that out loud or anything.

"So, am I right? About you being in year six?"

Blaine actually looked hopeful so Kurt decided to let him off the hook. "You are."

"Alright!" Blaine fist pumped. If he weren't so damn gorgeous, the action probably would have looked completely ridiculous.

"Blainey, baby, stop flirting with the new boy and c'mere and cuddle with me! You left me all by myself and I'm lonely!" Several people laughed.

This time Kurt caught who said it. It was a moderately attractive blonde boy with a carefree grin. Suddenly Kurt felt really awkward. "Oh, is that your…?"

"Boyfriend?" Blaine asked with a laugh. "No way. That's just Jeff. Sometimes he forgets he's straight. Even if he weren't, though, he's not my type."

"So… you're gay, then?" Kurt forced himself to ask.

"Out and proud," Blaine said with a wide smile.

"BLLLLLAAAAAINEYYYYY!" Jeff called and Blaine rolled his eyes. A brown haired boy sitting to Jeff's right scowled and smacked the blonde over the head. "_Ow,_ Thad!"

"Well, I'm gonna get back over there before they embarrass themselves. Or me. Or both." Blaine laughed. "Want to come with?"

Kurt looked at the group of raucous boys Blaine indicated at with a jerk of his thumb. "I think it's safer here for now."

"You're probably right. Well, see you later, Kurt."

Kurt watched Blaine as he stood and walked back over to the boys, shaking his head. "You lot are total prats," he heard Blaine say over the din. They just laughed and Jeff said something in response that made Blaine blush. Thad smacked Jeff upside his head again, but this time the blonde merely cackled loudly and high-fived a black haired boy sitting on his other side. Still red faced, Blaine glanced over at Kurt with a nervous expression on his face before sitting in the seat directly across from Jeff.

Turning back to his plate, Kurt tried his best to focus on his meal. Kurt got about two bites in before Jeff and the black haired boy he had high-fived earlier sat down at either side of him.

"Well, hello there, Kurtsie," Jeff grinned. "Is it alright if I call you Kurtsie?"

"Of course it is!" the black haired boy said as he threw an arm around Kurt's shoulders.

"He loves it. Don't you, Kurtsie?"

Kurt shrugged the boy off. "Actually, no, I don't. And no, it is not alright."

Jeff sighed. "Fine, fine. Kill our fun. Anyway, Blaine has only just informed us that you will be joining our little family."

"So, we wanted to welcome you properly and introduce ourselves since Blaine is a rude meanie and tried to keep us away from you. I'm Nicholas James Duval."

"Jeffery Mark Sterling." Jeff said. "But you should call him Nick," he said, pointing at Nick.

"And him Jeff."

"It's simpler that way."

Nick grinned happily, a gleeful look in his eyes. "You'll love us," he told Kurt.

"Everybody does, of course."

"And if there's anything you should need-" Nick began.

"Information about which girls are up for grabs-" Jeff continued.

"Or which ones you should avoid at all costs if you don't want your bits bitten off-"

"Which ones you're going to _want_ to bite your bits off-"

"Please don't hesitate to ask," Nick finished.

"I'm gay," Kurt informed them.

"Did you hear that, Blaine?" Jeff yelled up the table. "Our new boy likes him some hot and sexy man love!"

"Told you we would find out!"

Kurt looked over at Blaine, who had his face buried in his hands.

"You're welcome!" Jeff called.

Nick turned back to Kurt. "If it's boys you're after, we can recommend Blaine."

"He's dapper," Jeff said. "Oh! And pocket sized!"

"But if curly headed elves who wear too much hair gel aren't your thing, there's Brandon from Gryffindor."

"Or Ethan White. Slytherin."

"Or Thad. He belongs to us."

"Or-" Jeff snapped his mouth shut, effectively cutting himself off. He shot Nick a stern look. "He absolutely cannot have Thad." Jeff turned to glare at Kurt. "You absolutely cannot have Thad."

"Why not?" Nick asked. "Thad's gay."

Jeff scoffed. "Thad's mine."

"You're straight," Nick pointed out.

"No, I'm Thadsexual."

"Not two minutes ago you said you were Blainesexual."

"That was then. This is now."

Nick rolled his eyes. "Fine, Thad is off limits."

Jeff sniffed in Kurt's direction. "And you would do well to remember it."

"Because Jeff is an idiot."

Jeff rounded on Nick. "Better an idiot than a wanker."

"Better a wanker than a fuck wit."

"Better - Thad!" Jeff said happily as he turned in his seat. Thad stood behind them with a displeased look on his face.

"What is the matter with you two?" Thad demanded, glaring at Jeff and Nick, who both turned to look at each other and shrug innocently. Thad looked at Kurt. "Please don't mind them. They are a special kind of idiot," he said. "I'm Thad Hardwood."

Nick snickered. "Hardwood."

Both Kurt and Thad ignored him.

"Kurt Hummel," Kurt introduced himself, thankful for someone to talk to who didn't make his head spin. Listening to Nick and Jeff made him feel like he was under the influence of… something.

"Nice to meet you," Thad said, nodding cordially to Kurt. He seemed very polite, like Blaine, but Thad lacked Blaine's jovial personality. That wasn't to say Thad was unpleasant, though. Just reserved.

"You too," Kurt said with a smile. "So, do these two have an off switch?" Kurt asked, referring to Jeff and Nick.

"Jeff, Nick. Go away."

Jeff and Nick instantly stopped throwing bits of Kurt's salad at one another to look at Thad as if he had just suggested they go find some really cute kittens to kick.

"But we're making friends with our new Baby Gay," Nick protested. Kurt stared at him.

"No, you're bothering him," Thad said. "So get up. Both of you."

Both boys let out identical, put upon sighs and slowly stood up and Kurt observed that they were different in terms of height. Jeff was tall, possibly six foot and stood about three inches taller than Nick, who looked as if he was the same height as Thad.

"See you later!" Jeff called waggling his fingers as Thad pushed both him and Nick away from Kurt and back to the middle of the table.

Kurt turned back to his disheveled plate with a sigh. What the hell had he gotten himself into?

* * *

><p><strong>So… thoughts?<strong>

**I would love to hear them!**

**-Cerez**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Since we have only seen the one Klaine kiss, we can all safely assume I have not been given ownership rights of **_**Glee**_**. And as far as **_**Harry Potter**_** goes, last time I checked, I still only have about five dollars in my bank account, so I seriously doubt I own that either.**

**AN: Here is an update for you all! I got this chapter out pretty quickly, and while I would absolutely love to keep positing at such a fast pace, it probably isn't going to happen that way. The only reason it did today is because I was unexpectedly given the day off from work and spent a good bit of it writing this. BUT I am hoping to post AT LEAST one chapter a week. **

**Anyway, this picks up right where the first one left off. Time is going to move rather slowly at first but it will pick up eventually as the chapters go by. **

**OH! And I know in the **_**Harry Potter**_** books the classes are scheduled MUCH differently from the way I have them scheduled here, but that was a conscious decision on my part for my own peace of mind. All that double Potions this and double Herbology that was much too confusing. **

**Anyway, enjoy!**

* * *

><p>As soon as dinner was over and the plates were cleared, the headmistress bid them all goodnight and informed the Prefects that they should start directing each of the houses towards their respective dormitories.<p>

Kurt saw Blaine and a tall girl with dark hair rounding up the first years and wondered if he should join them. He supposed he could always just follow the large mass of Ravenclaws filing out of the Great Hall, but when Blaine and his partner hung back with their group to talk, presumably giving out information about the school, Kurt decided he would probably be better off joining the first years. He had barely taken two steps towards Blaine's direction when two Ravenclaw boys stepped his path.

"Hi, Kurt," the Asian looking one said.

"Um, hello," Kurt frowned.

"We're kidnapping you," the other boy, who had dark skin, informed him.

"Kidnapping me?" Kurt asked. Was everyone in Ravenclaw completely insane?

"That's right. It's only fair since you've met everyone else in our year."

Kurt glanced over at Blaine, who was still conversing with the first years. It didn't look as if Kurt would be going over there any time soon. He looked back at his self proclaimed kidnappers. "You guys are sixth years?"

"Yep. I'm Wes," the Asian boy said. "And this is David." He pointed at the other one.

"Hey," David grinned with a jaunty wave.

"Umm, it's nice to meet you, but I don't really know where I'm going so I should probably go with the first years, so…"

Neither moved.

"Oh, don't worry about that. We'll tell you what you need to know," David offered.

Kurt repressed a sigh. "Alright," he said, figuring that he should try his best not to offend any of people he would be sharing a dorm with for the next two years. He would play nice. For now at least.

It turned out that Wes and David were probably the most normal of the group. They didn't seem to have any strange hang ups at least, like Blaine's so-friendly-it-hurts demeanor, Nick and Jeff's crazy, or Thad's freakish control over the latter two.

Both Wes and David were very informative about what would be expected of Kurt as a Hogwarts student. Despite this, Kurt was still a bit on edge. The moving staircases creeped him out, the castle was massive, and the fact that he would be required to answer a riddle every time he wished to enter the Tower was a bit daunting, but otherwise Kurt thought that he would be able handle it. Maybe.

Kurt, Wes, and David were the last to arrive in their dorm. Surprisingly, both Nick and Jeff were already asleep in their respective beds. Kurt would have pegged them as the type to be up all hours of the night, and was happy to be proven wrong. Thad was sitting on his bed reading a book and spared Kurt a small nod before refocusing on whatever he was reading. Blaine was sitting on top of his trunk, which was on the floor at the foot of his bed, lightly strumming at a polished looking guitar. Kurt spotted his own trunk sitting at the end of the bed directly opposite from Blaine's.

The room itself was a bit circular, so the beds were arranged into a crooked circle of sorts. Upon entry, the order starting from the left of the doorway was Jeff, Thad, Blaine, a closed door that Kurt assumed led to the bathroom, two empty beds that obviously belonged to Wes and David, Kurt and then, finally, Nick. Kurt wasn't sure how he felt about Jeff and Nick occupying the spaces at either side of the exit.

"Hey," Blaine said softly, smiling at Kurt as he continued strumming his guitar. "Claire and I looked around for you after dinner to see if you wanted to join the tour, but we didn't see you."

"That was our fault," Wes explained as he walked over to the bed next to the bathroom door, which put David next to Kurt. "We decided that since everyone else got to meet him, it was our turn. So we kidnapped him."

"They were very helpful," Kurt said as he used _Accio_ to summon his pajamas out of his trunk. He had packed his entire wardrobe, which was substantial, so everything had been shrunken magically (courtesy of Carol since Kurt wouldn't be allowed to perform magic outside of school until August) to accommodate for everything in the allotted trunk space. After returning his sleepwear to its normal size, he retrieved his nighttime bag of moisturizers the same way he had his pajamas. "I'm assuming that's the bathroom?" he asked, pointing to the door between Wes and Blaine, who both nodded at him.

Kurt took his time readying for bed and when he returned from the bathroom, Thad's bed curtains were down and Wes and David were both asleep. Blaine was still quietly playing his guitar.

"Your owl is a really pretty color," Blaine said with a nod towards Pavarotti.

Kurt smiled. "Thanks. My dad surprised me with him on my first day of wizarding school," he explained quietly. To Pavarotti, Kurt asked, "Would you like to come out, Pavarotti? Are you hungry?" The yellow owl chirped and Kurt obliged him by opening his cage and then the dormitory window. Pavarotti nibbled gently at Kurt's ear before taking off out the window to hunt for his dinner.

That done, Kurt sat down on his bed, feeling slightly awkward. He had never lived with anyone other than his father before and he didn't know how this whole roommates thing worked. Should he just go to sleep? Though everyone else was already asleep, it seemed rude to do the same while Blaine was still playing.

"If my playing is keeping you awake, I can stop," Blaine offered.

"I'd actually prefer it if you kept playing. It's really nice and I usually fall asleep listening to music anyway." It was only after Kurt finished speaking that it occurred to him that he had basically just ordered Blaine to lull him to sleep. "That came out wrong," Kurt rushed to explain. "I didn't mean to imply that you had to play until I fall asleep or anything."

But Blaine laughed off Kurt's concern. "I didn't take it that way. But either way, I don't mind. I usually play for a while longer anyway. If you lay down now you might drift off before I stop."

"Umm, okay," Kurt said as he got under the covers. "Good night, Blaine."

"Night Kurt."

Kurt was asleep within minutes.

* * *

><p>A series of loud CRACK!s stunned Kurt awake and he shot up in bed, his head turning in every direction and he frantically looked for signs of attack. What he found instead was David shouting loudly for everyone to wake up as Wes banged a hefty looking gavel on a block of wood with all his might.<p>

Kurt stared stupidly at them with his mouth open. What was _wrong with these people_?

He took back everything he thought the night before about Wes and David being normal. Obviously, they were all certifiably nuts. Every last one of them.

"Jeff!" Nick yelled over David's shouting and Wes' banging. "I thought you said you got_ rid of it!_"

"I _did!_" Jeff shouted back from underneath his pillow. "He must have had a spare stashed somewhere!"

The banging ensued.

And then-

"WESLEY! KNOCK THAT SHITE OFF!"

Kurt turned to gape at Thad, who was a bit red in the face from his outburst, with wide eyes. _Ohmigod, I'm gonna die_.

"Fuck me, Thad, that was _hot._"

Thad scowled at Jeff. "Quiet, Jeffery."

Blaine was half sitting up on his bed, leaning back on his right arm, which was bent at the elbow. He was a bit bleary eyed, but managed to look apologetically at Kurt. Despite all of the madness, Kurt couldn't help but notice that Blaine looked especially attractive with his hair free of product and curling adorably in all directions.

"It is precisely six o'clock AM," Wes announced as he ceased banging. "Students are expected to be in the Great Hall for breakfast by seven thirty."

"It's in the handbook," David explained, looking at Kurt, who had gone back to staring at the two of them with a flabbergasted expression on his face.

"Jeff," Wes pointed at the blonde with his gavel. "You are first in the shower. You have precisely eleven minutes and four seconds."

As soon as one boy got out, another one went in, Wes and David directing the entire affair. By the time it was Kurt's turn to go, he was feeling particularly bitchy and annoyed. Grabbing his things, he went into the bathroom and took his time showering, moisturizing, and styling his hair. It took him no less than thirty minutes and when he walked out, Wes and David were glaring at him with their arms folded across their chests. David opened his mouth to speak but Kurt shot him a look that promised a full on bitch-fit if provoked to it and David quickly shut his mouth.

When Nick was finished, they all walked down to the Great Hall together, Kurt glaring at the back of Wes and David's heads.

"I need coffee," Kurt said grumpily as he dropped down into a chair at the Ravenclaw table on Blaine's left. Blaine nodded and pointed to a pot at the middle of the table and Kurt set to work on readying his caffeine fix. It wasn't Starbucks or anything, but it was better than nothing. "Tell me that doesn't happen every morning," Kurt said after he had taken a few sips to clear his head.

Blaine grimaced. "Well, I _could_ tell you that, but then I would be lying."

"Oh, god," Kurt moaned.

Blaine grinned a bit sheepishly. "Sorry."

"You're all crazy," Kurt grumbled.

"No," said Nick, who was sitting across from Blaine, "just under stimulated. You know-" He waved his hand in the air in a circular motion.

"Smart-kid syndrome," Jeff supplied.

"Okay, seriously, _what_ is up with the wannabe twin thing?" Kurt snapped. It was early, he had been startled awake, his left eye was developing a twitch, and, as it turned out, coffee that he didn't have to pay at least five dollars for absolutely sucked. As far as Kurt was concerned, the time for being polite had passed. It was his runway now. They would just have to deal with it.

But Jeff and Nick just looked at Kurt's scowling face and grinned.

"Hey, Jeff?"

"Yes, my Nick?"

"I think we should keep him."

"Agreed."

Kurt rolled his eyes.

A sudden bang loud enough for Kurt to feel it deep in his chest sounded from the Gryffindor table as a large pitcher of pumpkin juice exploded all over the place, covering nearby Gryffindors with orange liquid. Several Gryffindors, almost all of the first years, and Kurt screamed in alarm. The rest of the student body merely looked on with boredom or mild interest as Noah Puckerman pointed at his soaked housemates and started laughing hysterically.

"Juvenile," Jeff said, looking at Puck with a scowl on his face.

"Completely immature," Nick agreed.

"_MR. PUCKERMAN!_"

Nearly every head in the Great Hall turned towards the Headmistress, who was walking towards Puck with a purpose, her wand clutched so tightly in her hand that it was a wonder it was still in one piece.

"My office right now!" she yelled in a shrill voice. "And that's twenty points from Gryffindor! MOVE!"

Groaning, Kurt let his face drop into his hands as he tried to piece together what was left of his frazzled nerves. Everyone in this whole place was crazy.

"You'll get used to it," Blaine said softly as he nudged Kurt's shoulder gently with his own.

Kurt peeked out from behind his hands. "If I survive that long." More coffee. He needed more coffee.

He was on his third cup when Blaine tapped him on the arm. "Schedules are here," he said, pointing up. Above each student at the Ravenclaw table was a floating piece of paper, courtesy of Professor Flitwick, the head of their house. Kurt grabbed the paper and looked over his classes, which were organized by class name, teachers, days, times, and which one of the four houses they would be sharing the class with.

Transfiguration - Smith - MR at 9:00AM to 9:50AM - Hufflepuff

Runes - Schuester - MR at 10:00AM to 10: 50AM - Gryffindor

Herbology - Longbottom - MR at 1:00PM to 1:50PM - Hufflepuff

Defense Against the Dark Arts - Sylvester - TF at 9:00AM to 9:50PM - Gryffindor

Potions - Slughorn - TF at 10:00AM to 10:50AM - Slytherin

Charms - Flitwick - TF at 1:00PM to 1:50PM - Slytherin

Flying - Hooch - W at 11:00PM to 11:30PM - Hufflepuff

Care of Magical Creatures - Hagrid - F at 11:00 to 11:50 - Gryffindor

"I'm assuming that the 'R' stands for Thursday?" Kurt asked no one in particular.

"Correct," Thad answered without looking up from his schedule.

Blaine nudged Kurt's shoulder again. "May I?" he asked, looking pointedly at Kurt's schedule.

"Oh. Sure," Kurt handed it over and Blaine took a few seconds to read through it before turning to Kurt with a wide grin on his face that made breathing just a little bit harder.

"We have all of the same classes together except for Runes and Flying," Blaine announced happily.

"Flying?" asked Wes as he tried to look over Blaine's shoulder at Kurt's schedule. "Impossible. That's only available to first years."

"My old school offered flying only as an extracurricular activity, and I'm not a fan of sports, so..." Kurt shrugged and trailed off, leaving them to sort out the implications for themselves.

David, who had also been trying to get a look at Kurt's paper, nodded sagely and relaxed back into his seat. "That would explain it, then. Flying is a mandatory credit for all able bodied students at Hogwarts."

"It's in the handbook," Wes supplied.

Jeff snorted and Nick rolled his eyes and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like 'pansies.'

Thad had a pleased look on his face. "Well, I for one am happy to have someone else in this group who doesn't live, breath, and sleep-"

"QUIDDITCH!" Nick and Jeff yelled, startling a nearby girl into dropping her cup and spilling her juice all over the place. She glared angrily at them but neither noticed because they had practically crawled on top of the table to get closer to Kurt, their faces identical masks of horror.

"When you say that you are 'not a fan of sports-'" Jeff began.

"Surely you don't mean Quidditch, too," Nick finished. "And Quodpot doesn't count. That's rubbish."

"Never played either of them," Kurt said. "And I don't particularly care to."

Thad sighed. "And here we go…"

"Say _WHAT_?"

"Never played-"

"Don't care-"

"BLAINE!" They finally shouted together as each pointed an accusing finger at Kurt.

Blaine, to his credit, remained calm. "Guys, Kurt doesn't have to like Quidditch if he doesn't want to."

Jeff looked like he was about to cry whereas Nick just looked very, very serious.

"You're our captain," Jeff said to Blaine in a whiny voice.

Nick nodded. "Make him like it."

Blaine sighed and glanced at Thad. "A little help, please?"

"Jeff, Nick. Sit down."

Grumbling, they both did as they were told. Kurt watched in silence and wondered how much more crazy his brain could absorb before it began to overflow, leaving him just as bats as the rest of them.

"Hey, little brother!" Finn's voice broke into Kurt's musings, forcing him to save worrying about his mental health for another time.

"Little brother?" David asked, frowning.

"Hudson is your _brother_?" Nick asked, looking as if he had just swallowed something unpleasant.

"We're step-brothers," Kurt explained.

"Guilty of fraternizing with kin of the enemy!" Jeff wailed.

"The enemy?" Kurt asked.

"Quidditch rivalries," Thad explained.

"Oh," he said as he shifted on the bench a bit so that he could better see Finn. "I didn't know you were on the team, Finn."

The right corner of Finn's lips quirked up. "I'm the Gryffindor captain," he stated proudly. "A Beater. Puck's on the team, too. He's a Beater as well."

The term meant nothing to Kurt, so he made a noncommittal noise and nodded in what he hoped was an encouraging manor.

Blaine, who obviously saw through Kurt's façade, helpfully explained. "A Beater's job is to hit an enchanted black ball at the opposing team's players with a bat. Jeff and Nick are the Beaters for our team."

"And you?" Kurt asked Blaine.

"I'm one of the three Chasers."

"He's pretty good," Finn said politely.

"What do you mean 'pretty good'?" Jeff asked Finn with a scowl. "He's bloody amazing!"

Nick snickered. "It's cuz he's so small. He weighs less and therefore goes faster than everyone else." Jeff laughed at Nick's statement and the two slapped hands.

Blaine ignored them. "It's my job to score points for our team by throwing a red ball called the Quaffle into one of three hoops located at the other team's side of the pitch."

"And you're also the captain?" Kurt asked.

"I am," Blaine nodded.

"Do you guys play too?" Kurt asked Wes and David, going off of Thad's earlier statement about him being the only one not obsessed with Quidditch.

"No." David shook his head. "I'm rubbish on a broom and Wes is the announcer."

"You should come to our next game," Finn said excitedly. "You'll love it."

"Maybe," Kurt allowed, but that seemed good enough for Finn, who declared Kurt's vague response 'brilliant' before saying his goodbyes to return to his own table.

Nick and Jeff had opted to drop Transfiguration this year, so they went off to do whatever it was they did during their spare time while the rest of boys headed off towards the Transfiguration classroom.

Thanks to one staircase that was particularly movement happy, they were all late to class (except for Thad, who had left the Great Hall earlier than everyone else), and Professor Smith made it explicitly clear that he was not pleased by their tardiness. As Smith pointed out in a nasty tone that all of the _Hufflepuffs_ had managed to get to class on time, Kurt decided that he rather disliked the blonde curly haired professor.

Smith conducted the rest of the class in what Kurt deemed a wholly unprofessional manor as he continued to play favorites between the two houses. Kurt would never accuse Smith of actually looking anything other than grossly unpleasant, but the professor did manage to look… snidely pleased whenever a Hufflepuff raised his or her hand to answer one of his questions. He would get this triumphant glint in his eye and immediately call on whichever Hufflepuff looked most anxious to answer. He did the opposite for the Ravenclaws by calling on them only when it was obvious that they didn't know the answer.

"Is he always like that?" Kurt asked after class was over and they were finally permitted to leave.

"He's only this bad when you're paired up with the Hufflepuffs - he's head of the Hufflepuff House - but he's pretty much an unpleasant person in general," Blaine said.

"Great." Kurt looked down on his schedule. "I've got Ancient Runes next."

Wes made a face. "None of us have ever taken that class. The professor is a bit… weird."

David wrinkled his nose in an unpleasant manor. "All of the Gryffindor kids are in it," he said as if that were reason enough for their distaste.

"Everybody knows they all run wild in there," Wes scoffed with a haughty sniff as he rolled his eyes. "The professor has absolutely no control. And he's weird," he repeated himself.

Kurt regarded them all with wide eyes. "So I'll be alone?" he asked, a bit panicked. How was he supposed to navigate his way through this behemoth of a castle by himself?

Blaine offered Kurt a reassuring smile. "Yeah, but you'll be okay. Ancient Runes is just on the floor bellow us. Just go down the hall that way and take the staircase on your right. I don't think I've ever seen that one move, so you should be alright."

Following Blaine's directions, Kurt - thank Gaga - located the classroom without difficulty. It was empty when he went in, so he busied himself with setting up his things.

"Well, if it ain't Hummel."

Kurt looked up from his supplies. "Hello, Puck," he greeted in a dry tone of voice.

Puck grinned and took a seat in the back. "I cheered for you last night at the sorting."

"Yes, we all heard."

"Figured you'd like that."

Kurt could feel a particularly sarcastic comment making its way towards the tip of his tongue, but he was saved from making a bitch of himself when Finn walked in, followed closely by Rachel Berry. "Awesome! Kurt's in this class!"

"Oh, hello, Kurt," Rachel greeted with the same lip-splitting smile she had on her face the day before.

"Hi, Rachel," Kurt smiled back.

Finn turned to Rachel with his eyebrows raised. "You know Kurt?" he asked.

"We met on the train. We bonded over our shared love of Broadway. How do _you_ know Kurt?"

"He's my stepbrother," Finn said with a shrug as he sat down next to Puck.

At Finn's comment, Rachel's eyes lit intensely on Kurt as she threw herself into the seat to his right. "Oh my god, you can help me then," she said with a wide eyed, excited expression that Kurt found just a little bit frightening. "I have the absolute biggest crush on Finn," she explained in a loud, hurried whisper. From the corner of his eye, Kurt saw Puck roll his eyes. "But unfortunately, he's semi-dating someone else. _You_ _need to tell me how to make him fall in love with me!_"

Not exactly sure how to respond to that, Kurt asked slowly, "How does one 'semi-date' another person?"

But he never got to hear Rachel's answer because a Hispanic looking girl with a fierce looking scowl on her pretty face chose that moment to enter the room. Attached to her pinky was a vacuous looking blonde. The Hispanic's eyes scanned the room quickly but precisely before they lit on Rachel. "Get your man hips out of my seat, Berry," she ordered.

Rachel scowled back the girl. "This seat doesn't belong to you, Santana."

"Actually, Berry, it does. My name is on the back."

Sure enough, when Rachel turned to inspect the back of her chair, there it was - S-A-N-T-A-N-A carved deep into the wood.

"This is _school_ _property_," Rachel protested. "And as a Prefect-"

"Save it. I honestly couldn't give a fuck," Santana said with a flick of her wrist.

"Damn, tell me you people are already fighting."

Santana turned to glare behind her at the room's newest occupant - a dark skinned girl with smooth skin and a strong attitude. "Why don't you mind your own business, Mercedes?"

The dark skinned girl rolled her eyes as she breezed past Santana to fully enter the room. "Please. When I have to sit here listen to all you people whine at each other, it _is_ my business. Leave Rachel alone and sit somewhere else." Mercedes did a double take in Kurt's direction. "Oo! Is that a Marc Jacobs bag?"

Kurt's smiled excitedly. "You know Marc Jacobs?"

"Hell, yeah! His stuff is _amazing_."

"I completely agree."

"You're Kurt, right?" Mercedes asked as she sat down on Kurt's other side. It wasn't until then that Kurt noticed she had an American accent.

"Yeah. You're American?" he asked and then frowned when he realized what he had done.

Mercedes didn't seem to mind the obvious question, however. "Yep. My mom and I moved over here when I was nine. People in the states didn't exactly appreciate her clothing - she's a fashion designer - so we came here and she made it pretty big. Her style is a fusion between muggle wear and wizarding wear, which is why I know Marc Jacobs and just about every other big time muggle designer."

Kurt and Mercedes kept up a steady conversation about fashion, which they briefly put on hold each time someone new walked in so Mercedes or Rachel could introduce them to Kurt. These new arrivals included Sam, a wide mouthed boy with hair that was obviously bleached, Quinn, who looked like a fragile doll, Artie, who was also American and in a wheel chair due to some unknown magical accident that he refused to talk about, Tina and Mike, who obviously were a packaged deal, and Lauren, a tough looking girl with a hard expression.

Kurt and Mercedes were discussing the deliciousness that was everything Alexander McQueen when the blonde girl with the vacant expression placed herself in Kurt's lap. "Want to snog with me before class starts?"

Kurt raised his hands in the air, trying to keep from touching the girl as much as possible. He looked over to Mercedes. "Snog?"

"She wants to make out with you," Mercedes managed between fits of laughter.

Kurt turned back to the blonde with wide eyes. "Please get up."

"Oh. You want to stand up and do it?"

"No. I don't even know you."

She tilted her head to one side and even Kurt couldn't deny it was cute. Kind of like a five year old. He still wanted her to get off of him, though.

"Your nose is really cute," she told him. "Can I lick it?"

Maybe cute had been the wrong word. "Um, no. Look, it's Brittany, right?" At least, he thought that was what Rachel had said the girl's name was.

Her eyes went a bit unfocused. "What is?"

"Your name," Kurt said slowly.

"Oh, that. Yes. And you're Kurt. And we're gonna snog."

Kurt sighed. "I'm gay."

"You mean like a Pixie?"

Bewildered, Kurt shook his head. "Okay, what?"

Brittany looped her arms around his neck. "Pixies are gay Doxies. Pixies are cute. But they're little so if I tried to snog one I would probably kill it with my tongue. But you're an okay size. My tongue would definitely fit in your mouth."

Kurt looked over to Mercedes and Rachel for help, but they were both laughing too hard at his expense to be of any assistance. Thankfully though, the professor chose that moment to walk in with a bright smile on his face, though it fell when he saw Brittany in Kurt's lap.

"Brittany, I told you last year, and every year since you started at Hogwarts, that you really can't be sitting in other people's laps. It's not appropriate."

"Sorry," she said quietly and got up.

Kurt breathed a bit easier and lowered his arms back down.

Professor Schuester offered Kurt an apologetic smile before grinning excitedly at the class. "Alright, welcome back everyone. Let's get started!"

It took about thirty seconds for Kurt decide that Wes had been right about the weirdness. With his overly optimistic let's-all-get-super-excited-about-life-and-Runes-and-school attitude, Professor Schuester, or Professor Schue as the Gryffindors called him, was a bit of an enigma as far as the typical teacher went. Or at least, as far as the typical teacher went in Kurt's experience, anyway.

And, like Wes had also said, the class ran wild. But not in a completely unproductive way. It was more like controlled chaos with lots of bickering and interruptions mixed in with the actual learning, but Kurt found he really liked it, which, of course, meant that the class seemed to only last about five minutes before he found himself packing up his things to leave.

When Kurt walked out of the room he was surprised to find Blaine leaning up against the wall opposite the classroom with a smile on his face. "Kurt! Hi!"

Saying goodbye to Mercedes and Rachel who both had another classes to rush off to, Kurt walked over to Blaine, hoping that he didn't look as excited to see Blaine as he felt. He knew for a fact that he didn't wear 'overeager and desperate' particularly well. "Hey. What are you doing here?"

"I just came to see if you might like a proper tour of the school. Or, if you'd rather not do that, we can just go to the library and do homework or something."

The very last thing he wanted to do with Blaine was his stupid homework, which he was disgusted to have quite a bit of after only two classes on the very first day of school. "A tour sounds great, actually."

Blaine's eyebrows rose and his face lit with excitement. "Yeah? Great!" Blaine pulled out his wand to banish the books he was carrying and Kurt did the same with his own. "Shall we?" Blaine asked, gesturing Kurt forwards with his hand and Kurt resisted the urge to grin like a school girl, opting instead to softly hum his consent as he fell in step beside Blaine.

For a while, Blaine didn't deviate from his role cast as the perfect tour guide. He knew just about every shortcut Hogwarts had to offer and made sure that Kurt was familiar enough with a few of the more important ones to be able to locate them without Blaine's help. Whenever they passed by something that held any historical value, Blaine shared its back-story. Kurt was sure no one else in the history of Hogwarts students had ever known so much about the school.

Blaine seemed to be on a first name basis with, well_, everyone_. People would call his name as they walked by, stretch out their arms for a quick high-five in passing, or simply run up and give him a hug, which Blaine would return affectionately, before they continued on their way.

Blaine was very polite about it all. After each interruption, he would turn back to Kurt and offer him this adorable little smile that somehow managed to look genuinely apologetic each time he did it.

Kurt quickly discovered that Blaine was perhaps the most affectionate person in existence. Every time he reached out to grab Kurt's hand in excitement or nudge him with his elbow or shoulder, Kurt fell just a little bit further into like with the shorter boy.

It made Kurt slightly nervous.

After all, _no body_ was perfect. He knew better than most people that perfection was nothing more than pretty wrapping covering whatever ugly truth was hidden beneath the surface. Or was that negativity talking? It wasn't as if Kurt had a lot of experience with civility. Maybe some people, like Blaine, were special exceptions... both loving and lovable.

Either way, if he was being completely honest with himself, Kurt would have to admit that _wanted_ to believe that Blaine was just as friendly and amazing as he seemed. The degree to which that particular desire scared him, though, Kurt had yet to decide.

"So," Blaine said as they made their way back towards the school from the Quidditch pitch (they had long since taken the tour outside, but their growling stomachs had put an end to it as noon drew nearer), "what do you think of Hogwarts so far?"

"You mean besides the fact that its namesake is completely ridiculous?" Kurt couldn't help asking.

Blaine laughed. "Yes, besides that. Though, it does have a certain appeal to it."

"If you say so," Kurt allowed. "But to answer your question properly; I would have to say different."

"Hmm. In a good way or a bad way?"

Kurt shrugged. "Not really either. Just different."

Blaine scrunched up his nose in an unforgivably endearing way. "Okay, not good and not bad. But exactly _how_ is it different?"

Kurt thought it over for a minute, trying to put what was so obvious in his head into words. "There's just this atmosphere here. Like time decided to stop and stand still for the rest of forever. Timeless. It just - It really feels… um, magical, I guess," he concluded lamely.

But Blaine smiled at him fondly, as if he knew exactly what Kurt was struggling to describe. "It didn't feel that way in your old school?" he asked softly and Kurt frowned.

McKinley High School of Magics had looked exactly like the local muggle high school, which also shared the McKinley name, minus the bit about magics, of course. Apart from the actual spell casting, there hadn't really been anything that set McKinley School of Magics apart from its non-magical counterpart. The lockers never seemed to open on the first try, the lunch food was horrible, and the water had been slightly discolored.

Next to the surreal yet natural beauty of Hogwarts, McKinley was just… sad and depressing.

It was then that Kurt realized that today was the first time in eleven years that he hadn't been verbally or physically attacked.

It wasn't new information or anything. But for some reason, Kurt suddenly he felt sick - like this heavy pressure had been lifted from his chest and he was suddenly expected to breathe again but didn't know how.

How many times had he smiled today? How many times had he smiled since he had arrived at Hogwarts? He realized that he _couldn't remember_.

Without having to think about it, Kurt automatically knew how many times he had smiled at McKinley.

Once.

Once had been enough.

_Kurt tripped over his own feet as he was shoved roughly from behind. He hit the ground hard. It hurt. His wand rolled just out of his reach and his Transfiguration essay slid out of his hand. _

"_Why are you smiling faggy-boy? Did you just suck some dude's dick? I bet you'd like to suck mine. You would, wouldn't you? Sick fuck."_

_At thirteen years old, Kurt was too old to be ignorant of cuss words. He had heard the words 'fuck,' 'dick,' and 'fag' before. He had even said 'fuck' himself a couple of times. But he certainly had never heard them used in such a dirty way before and the crassness of it all made him flush with embarrassment. The older boys watched Kurt's cheeks redden and laughed at him. The 'O' for 'Outstanding' written at the very top of his paper seemed to mock him, too._

So many memories…

_Kurt had woken up sick. His head was fuzzy and his throat burned. He was too hot one minute and too cold the next. He should have known better then to come to school in his condition. He hadn't been able to begin to _attempt_ to fight back when the four seniors wrenched his wand out of his hand and shot a spell in his face. They hadn't even needed to use _Expelliarmus.

_Kurt especially hated the _Immobulus _charm. Even after it was lifted, it left his body feeling strange for hours. And when he wasn't quick enough to evade it, they would force him into the most embarrassing positions..._

"_That's it, push his head down. And put his hands behind his back. Make sure his ass in in the air, though. You'll like that won't you, faggot?"_

All that he knew was how to endure. Endure, endure, endure. Just endure and get through the day, Kurt. Keep it in, Kurt. Don't let it show, Kurt. Don't give them the satisfaction of seeing you cry, Kurt.

And now that part of his life was - what? Over? Just because he had switch schools? Just smile and be happy now, Kurt. Forget all the bad stuff, Kurt. It's gone. Like magic. Like fucking magic. It's gone.

Did he even know _how_ to be happy?

Sometime in the middle of his - what? blackout? panic attack? - he must have stopped walking because the sudden weight of Blaine's hands on his shoulders startled him. His eyes focused on Blaine's face, twisted with concern and incredibly close to his own. It made Kurt's erratic pulse even more erratic. "Kurt? Kurt, are you okay?" Blaine's voice was barely audible over the taunting laughter in his head.

"No," he whispered as he leaned a bit against the pressure of Blaine's hands. His body felt much too heavy and he wondered irrationally whether the ground was strong enough to continue to support him. His head hurt. "It felt horrible there."

Blaine's features grew hard and cold. "Because of your sexual orientation."

"Yes," Kurt whimpered, and felt pathetic for it. He whimpered again.

Blaine's fingers tightened on his shoulders. It hurt. "Cry if you want to, Kurt," Blaine said, his voice so much softer and kinder than Kurt had expected it to be - so different from the bruising way Blaine held him - that Kurt just couldn't hold it in any more. He sobbed and he choked on his tears and he gasped for air that _just wouldn't come_ and Blaine just stood there and held onto his shoulders with his bruising fingers.

And after his eyes were swollen and his throat felt dryer than sand, Blaine led him back to the castle. However, instead of taking him to Ravenclaw tower, Blaine led Kurt up to the seventh floor. He must have taken them there in some roundabout way because they didn't pass by a single other person as they went.

Kurt didn't know how long it took but eventually they stopped in front of a wall across from a ridiculous looking tapestry featuring a man trying to teach a group of trolls ballet. Kurt stood there sniffling and staring at his shoes as Blaine walked back and forth in front of the wall, the other boy's face a mask of intense concentration.

Perhaps if Kurt hadn't just cried his eyes out in front of a boy he barely knew or if his vision was a little less blurry, he probably would have done something other than stare disinterestedly at the wall when a door suddenly appeared on its surface. As it was, however, Kurt barely spared the door a passing glance as he wordlessly allowed Blaine to pull him into the rather cozy looking room hidden behind it.

"This is the Room of Requirement," Blaine said softly. "It appears only when someone is in great need of it and changes itself according to the asker's needs." He glanced at Kurt. "I figured you'd rather not be surrounded by a bunch of people right now."

That was true. The last thing he wanted at the moment was to have everyone see him when he was a physical and emotional mess. He didn't want Blaine there, either, for that matter, but he supposed that couldn't really be helped…

The room was an oddly comforting mix between their common room and the dorms. A four poster bed only slightly larger than the ones in Ravenclaw Tower stood in the middle of the room. Surprisingly, the bed didn't look out of place amongst the several couches and tables that were placed without rhyme or reason around it. There was a fire going in the fireplace and it felt warm on Kurt's cheeks.

Taking his hand, Blaine led Kurt to the bed and ordered him to lay down. Too tired to argue or worry about how strange (and slightly discomforting) all of this was, Kurt did as he was told and drifted off as the sweet sounds of Blaine's guitar warmed him.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Poor Kurt. Hopefully Blaine will make him all better. <strong>

**I've never had a panic attack, though I have seen several. I hope it wasn't too over the top…**

**Reviews are very much appreciated if you are so inclined to leave one!**

**And thank you immensely to those who reviewed the last chapter! I'm so happy that you liked it :) **

**Next up Neville Longbottom and Sue Sylvester!  
><strong>


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Since we have only seen the one Klaine kiss, we can all safely assume I have not been given ownership rights of **_**Glee**_**. And as far as **_**Harry Potter**_** goes, seeing as how I still only have about five dollars in my bank account, I seriously doubt I own that either.**

**A/N: Again, this starts off right where the last chapter left off. That isn't always going to happen, mind, but for now it's necessary. **

* * *

><p>Soft whispers coupled with gentle nudges coaxed Kurt awake. Blaine's face was the first thing he saw.<p>

"Hey," Blaine said with a careful smile. "You've got to get up. We have Herbology in thirty minutes."

At first all Kurt could do was stare blankly at the other boy because it took him a couple of seconds to remember everything. When he did remember, though, he couldn't help but feel extremely uncomfortable. He liked Blaine. Perhaps even too much for someone who had been in his life for less than seventy two hours, but no one, not even Burt, had ever seen Kurt in such a raw emotional state.

"Oh," Kurt said, shifting his eyes away from Blaine's hazel colored ones, which were warm and made Kurt uncomfortably conscious of how cold he felt inside. "Okay." With one arm, he pushed himself into a sitting position, noting the heaviness in his throat and eyes. He kept his eyes fixed on his lap. Blaine ducked down a little bit, obviously trying to catch Kurt's eye, but Kurt turned his head.

"Hey," Blaine said softly, "you don't have to be embarrassed about earlier."

"Actually, I do," Kurt argued. "I don't even know you, Blaine, and I just fell apart like that."

Blaine dipped his head in a little nod. "You're right. You don't know me. But I think you really needed to let it all out. And so long as you feel a little bit better now that you've had a good cry, does the fact that I don't know you and you don't know me really matter?"

Slowly, Kurt looked up at Blaine. "I guess not," he allowed, because, when he thought about it, he did feel a bit better. He felt less like a time bomb just waiting to go off, and in the grand scheme of things, Kurt supposed that was better for everyone. At least only one person had been there to witness it.

"Good!" Blaine smiled horribly wide, purposely screwing his face up. He looked absolutely ridiculous and Kurt laughed a little because he couldn't help not to.

At Kurt's chuckle, Blaine's features relaxed to the point where he no longer looked like an alien and for a moment, he just smiled softly at Kurt, his eyes dancing.

Kurt's cheeks colored at the attention, but he forced himself to keep Blaine's gaze.

"So! We missed lunch. Obviously." Blaine waved a noncommittal hand in the air. "You were sleeping, so I brought you this." He grabbed a bowl of garden salad off the bedside table that Kurt hadn't noticed there before and held it out for Kurt to take. "You had pasta salad for dinner last night and I didn't know what else you might like so I figured this was the safest bet."

"It looks so fresh," Kurt breathed. There were so many colors, each one beautiful and mouthwatering. He didn't think he had ever seen lettuce look so crisp before. Gingerly, he took the bowl from Blaine's hands. He almost didn't want to eat it.

Blaine shrugged and held out a fork, which Kurt also took. "That's because it is. There was really nothing good left in the Great Hall so I took a trip down to the kitchens and asked if the house elves might make a salad for me. So a couple of them ran out to the gardens to get the necessary supplies."

Kurt's eyebrows rose. "We are allowed to do that?"

Blaine wrinkled his nose. "Umm, not really, no."

"Breaking the rules, Blaine? How very caddish of you," Kurt smirked.

Blaine grinned. "Caddish? After I risked my immaculate reputation to acquire food for you?" He scoffed an rolled his eyes in an entirely flamboyant way. "I think not."

Kurt smiled a little. "Well, when you put it like that…" He took a bite of his salad. Surprisingly, it tasted even better than it looked. "Wow. That's…" He struggled for a way to describe the taste and came up blank. "Well. Thank you."

Blaine laughed. "You're quite welcome."

They didn't have a lot of time left, so Kurt tried to eat quickly. He was on his last bite when Blaine randomly said, "So, I'm thinking we should be friends."

And Kurt almost choked on the bit of lettuce he had been chewing, because, really, who just came out and said things like that? Blaine apparently. But then again, Kurt had never had a friend before so what did he know?

"You said you don't know me," Blaine continued. "That's true. So ask me some stuff. That way, if you ever need to talk, you don't have to feel like no one is there to listen."

"Blaine, we have class in, like, ten minutes."

"Right you are. Which is why we are going to walk and talk. C'mon." Blaine banished Kurt's empty bowl for him and stood up.

Slowly, Kurt got to his feet and followed Blaine to the door, which Blaine held open for him. They walked down the hall silence. Kurt had absolutely no idea what to ask. The only question that came to mind was _what's your favorite color_, which was just… really stupid. He was _not_ asking that.

"Um, Kurt, this whole get to know you session isn't going to work out so well unless you actually, you know, ask me something."

Kurt sighed. "What's your favorite color?"

"Hot pink! Next question."

Kurt cocked an eyebrow. "Hot pink? Really?"

Blaine mirrored Kurt's expression. "You were expecting blue or something?"

"Or something," Kurt muttered. He would have guessed brown before he guessed hot pink. What sort of an answer was hot pink for a favorite color anyway?

"Blue is nice. Hot pink is better. Next question," Blaine repeated.

Again, Kurt sighed as he tried to think of another question. He finally settled upon asking Blaine if he had any bothers or sisters, to which Blaine replied that he was an only child. After that, coming up with things to ask Blaine about himself got a bit easier and Kurt asked several more questions with little difficulty. Nothing that was too personal, of course, and Blaine didn't seem to mind answering silly questions such as what's your favorite food (Chocolate heart candies), what's your favorite subject (Charms), or who is your celebrity crush (Harry Potter is absolutely _gorgeous_!).

Before long, Blaine started to return the favor, but he only got one question in. Kurt had just finished explaining what an iPod was - Blaine had initially referred to the device as 'that rectangle thing you had on the train' - when they reached Green House Five.

They were the last ones to arrive, and a little bit late at that, but the professor just grinned and welcomed them in without making a big deal of it. It didn't take long for Kurt to realize that Professor Longbottom was a something of a celebrity at Hogwarts. While Kurt had heard of Harry Potter, Hermione Weasley, and Ronald Weasley - who belonging to the magical world hadn't? - he had never heard the name Neville Longbottom before, though apparently the plant loving professor was quite famous in the UK for his services during the Second Wizarding War.

At Jeff and Nick's request, Professor Longbottom proudly displayed his Dumbledore's Army coin for them all before getting to the actual lesson during which Kurt spent most of his time talking with Blaine as he struggled to re-pot the rather aggressive plants they had been given to work with. Twice, Blaine had been forced to rip Kurt's wand out of his hand before he could perform _Reducto _on the damned things for messing up his hair.

Later, as Kurt, Blaine, Jeff, and Nick (the others didn't take Herbology) were walking back to the castle, it started to rain. Kurt started to run towards the main entrance - having his recently fixed hair ruined for the third time that day simply did _not_ appeal to him - but Blaine grabbed hold of Kurt's bicep. "Wait. That's probably not the best idea. We should go another way."

"Blaine!" Kurt protested as he tried and failed to shake the other boy off. "It's about to poor and I'll get all wet!" Thunder rolled in the darkening sky and the light drizzle that dripped from the heavens grew a bit heavier. "I would like to get inside before that happens!"

"You'll regret it if you go that way," Jeff sing-songed.

"You'll just get wet anyway," Blaine said. "And probably with something worse than water."

"Why would I-"

"Peeves," Nick said with a scowl as if that explained everything.

"Who," Kurt asked as he strained to force Blaine to move at a faster pace, "or what is a peeves?"

"Peeves is a poltergeist," Nick said.

Jeff nodded. "We don't like him."

"That's ironic seeing as how you two are the living representations of one," Kurt countered as he finally succeeded in pulling both himself and the shorter but freakishly strong boy latched onto his arm into the entrance hall. Not two seconds later it started to downpour. Kurt sighed in relief and raised his hands to comb his wet - but thankfully not too wet - hair back into what he hoped was at least the semblance of a hairstyle. He was just about finished when the hairs at the back of his neck stood up and a shock shot up his spine.

Never one to ignore his instincts, Kurt whipped around just in time to catch a water balloon that had been aimed to explode all over the back of his head. A second water balloon followed the first in rapid succession, but Kurt was quick to throw out his left hand and catch that one as well. The third he simply dodged but was forced to catch the final three, two of which had been aimed at his face. The last had been aimed at his butt but intuition coupled with a quick pivot and nimble fingers had taken care of that.

A loud yell of frustration echoed in the hall and Kurt finally saw his attacker, an impish little ghost who became visible only as he sped off. The poltergeist was yelling angrily and pulling at his eyebrow hair, which there was far more of in comparison to the little bit that was left on his head.

Kurt dropped the final two water balloons he had been forced to catch, careful to drop them at a far enough distance so that they wouldn't explode all over his shoes (the balloons were filled with a murky black liquid) and turned back to his roommates, who were all staring at him with their mouths open and their eyes wide.

"Peeves, I presume?" he asked.

Jeff and Nick ignored him in favor of tugging insistently at Blaine's robes. "Blaine. Blaine, did you see that?" Nick whispered.

"He caught every single one," Jeff said, a dumbfounded expression on his face.

"Not technically. I dodged one," Kurt pointed out but no one seemed to hear him.

"He snatched them out of the air like nothing."

"We _need_ him," they both said together.

"Need me for what?" Kurt asked, which seemed to sober Blaine up.

Closing his mouth and shaking off Jeff and Nick, Blaine scowled at them. "Leave him alone, guys," he instructed. To Kurt he said, "Nothing. Just ignore them."

Kurt had an idea of what the two had been getting at but figured he was better off not having his suspicions confirmed. Besides, what could catching a couple of tennis ball sized water balloons have to do with playing Quidditch anyway?

The boys lazed around in the common room before dinner. Kurt sat at one of the tables by the fire with Wes and Thad and wrote a letter to his father and Carol telling them about his first day. It was nice to say that he was enjoying himself and actually mean it.

There were thankfully no explosions at the Gryffindor table during dinner, though Finn did come to say hi once again and ask Kurt how he was doing. When they returned to their dorm, everyone went to their respective beds to go about their business - Thad was reading a book and doing a rather spectacular job of ignoring Jeff and Nick as they tried to get his attention in a number of obnoxious ways, Wes was writing a letter, David was playing wizard's chess against himself, and Blaine was lightly strumming at his guitar. This time he was singing softly as well, but before Kurt could say that he thought Blaine had a nice voice - a _really_ nice voice - he was asleep.

* * *

><p>The next morning Kurt was once again startled awake by the head splitting sound of Wes' gavel pounding on that damned block.<p>

"Jeff!" Nick yelled.

"Sorry!"

"DAMN IT, WESLEY!"

"_So_ sexy."

"Alright!" Wes announced. "It is six o'clock. From now on, we've only got eight minutes and three seconds in the shower since _someone_," Wes glared in Kurt's direction, "doesn't like to honor protocol."

Kurt glared back, unabashed. Wes could say whatever the hell he wanted so long as Kurt got at least thirty minutes in the bathroom.

"You're up, Jeff," David said, and Jeff tiredly rolled to his feet.

By seven thirty, the six of them were in the Great Hall and sitting in their usual seats at the Ravenclaw table. Nick and Jeff were shoveling food into their mouths as Kurt slowly drank his horrible tasting coffee and ate the yogurt he head chosen for himself.

"Who do we have Defense with again?" Jeff asked around his half chewed bite of pancake.

"Gryffindor," Kurt answered.

"Ugh," Nick pulled a face.

Kurt frowned. "Is this a Quidditch thing again?"

"No," Nick wrinkled his nose in disgust. "It's more like the Gryffindors are all complete nutters kind of a thing."

"Total prats," Jeff commented.

"Wankers, really," Nick chimed in, his lips twitching.

Jeff didn't even try to hide his grin. "Right fowl gits."

They were making fun of him, Kurt knew, but it felt different from the kind he was used to - the kind that made him feel about ten inches tall. Nick and Jeff's teasing made him feel good, if that made any sense. It made him feel as if he were a part of something. It was such a small gesture, and while Kurt doubted that they were doing it intentionally (good natured teasing seemed to be instinctive for them), he was thankful for it just the same.

"So I'm going to assume that those are all real words," he said dryly and beside him Blaine laughed. "I'm also going to assume that each has a negative meaning, though I really don't get why you guys don't like them."

"It's not just us," Nick said, looking like the cat that got the cream as he grinned snidely across the table at Wes. "Wes doesn't like the Gryffindors, either, do you, mate?"

The boy in question glared at Nick. "It's not so much _them_ as it is that small girl with the crazy eyes," he grumbled.

"Rachel Berry?" Kurt asked. He liked Rachel, but her eyes _were_ kind of crazy.

Wes shuddered. "That's the one." He glared down at his pumpkin juice. "She scares me."

Jeff snickered. "That's only because you went mental when she asked you to be the future supplier of her future Eurasian babies."

Wes glared at the grinning blonde. "It was second year! What sort of twelve year old asks something like that? You would have been just as disturbed!"

"She was the one who was disturbed," David said, ever loyal.

"Only because Wes ruined her when he shot her down!" Nick insisted.

"She went through a mourning period and everything," Jeff explained to Kurt, though his eyes were trained on Thad's breakfast plate. Slowly, he reached over with his fork aimed to spear at the other boy's French toast.

Nick gave a sorry shake of his head. "Poor thing."

"For _weeks_ she only wore black robes-" Jeff snatched his hand away from Thad's plate before the dark haired boy succeeded in whacking the appendage with his potions book.

"We are _required_ to wear black by our dress code, you prat," Thad muttered with a roll of his eyes as he went back to reading his book.

"-and wandered around crying all of the time."

Nick swallowed whatever he had been chewing with an audible gulp. "People started calling her Moaning Rachel."

Wes threw his hands up in the air. "Theatrics on her part! All of it! It's not like I killed her pygmy puff or anything!"

Nick snorted. "You told her that you-"

"And we quote," Jeff held up two fingers on each hand.

"'-would never consider procreating with a girl who was attached to such a large nose,'" they said together.

Kurt's mouth dropped open as he stared over at Wes. "Oh my god, you didn't."

"He _did!_" Nick said with a wicked grin.

"Twelve!" Wes shouted as David gave him a few consoling pats on his shoulder. "I was twelve! I still thought that girls had bad germs!"

"Now, Wesley, that's not nice," Jeff said with a stern look on his face as he wagged his finger at the Asian boy.

"There are at least three people at this table who still do," Nick said.

Thad snorted into his book. Still smiling, Blaine shook his head and rolled his eyes. Kurt just scowled at them.

After that, the seven boys finished their breakfasts without further incident and walked towards the Defense room together. Kurt was still a little overwhelmed by the sheer size of the school, but he had a better idea of where he was and where he was going than he had the day before, which was an improvement.

"Um, Kurt," Blaine said when the classroom door was in view, "before we go in, I should warn you. This particular professor is… well, she's-"

"A bitch," Nick supplied. Wes and David shushed him loudly as they looked around nervously.

Blaine tipped his head to concede the point. "Well… yeah, pretty much that exactly. So just don't take it…" He scrunched up his face in thought. "Er, personally? I guess? I mean, she's like that with everyone. Even the other professors."

Great. Just what he needed. Kurt got downright nasty when he was on the defensive, which was not the best way to respond to one's teachers, but he couldn't help it.

Pressing his tongue flat against the rough of his mouth (as if that would actually stop him from getting snippy), Kurt steeled himself for what was to come. Blaine entered first. They were stopped almost immediately by a very tall, very tight faced, seemingly middle aged witch with short blonde hair.

"Well, Doe Eyes," the witch said to Blaine in a calm, matter-of-fact voice, "I didn't think it was possible but somehow you have managed to pack even more product into that curly headed mop of yours than I remember seeing last year. Trying to give Will Schuester a run for his money, are you?"

Kurt's mouth dropped open, but Blaine smiled kindly at her. "Good morning, Professor Sylvester."

Her features contorted into a look of disgust. "Knock off that ridiculous smiling, Anderson, or you'll make me vomit." She looked over at Kurt and frowned. Well, frowned more than she already had been. "You. Name."

"Kurt Hummel," Kurt said as he put in a conscious effort to keep his eyebrow relaxed.

"Hummel," she said slowly, as if testing it out on her tongue. "Don't like it. Sounds too much like hummus, which has to be the most disgusting bit of tripe I have ever spat out. So. When in my presence you will respond to Porcelain."

On its own accord, his eyebrow shot up. "Porcelain?"

Professor Sylvester stared him down. "It's that or Lady Face."

Like hell he was going to be called Lady Face. "I guess I'll go with Porcelain."

"Good. Now that that's settled why don't you and Doe Eyes here take your band of misfits and go sit down before I get drunk off the alcohol fumes radiating off of Anderson's hair."

Nick scowled at the 'band of misfits' crack and opened his mouth to say something but Wes and David propelled him forward before he got the chance.

Without so much as a 'how was your summer' Professor Sylvester ordered them into pairs to practice casting offensive spells around shield charms. Kurt paired off with Mercedes and the two fell in line to practice.

Apparently the group had practiced the technique briefly before the end of last year, but it was a difficult skill to master and no one seemed to be very good at it. Kurt, however, could do it in his sleep thanks to all of the bullying he had faced at McKinley.

"Ugh, this is so hard," Mercedes complained as she failed for the third time to cast _Rictusempra_ around her shield.

"Here, I'll show you," Kurt said. "I'm actually pretty good at this. Just keep your shield up, okay?" He was best at performing defensive spells nonverbally, so he went with that route; flicking his wand up and to the right to cast _Protego _before darting to his left and simultaneously jerking his wand arm up to cast _Rictusempra_ at a curve_. _The purple spell shot past Kurt's shield and hit the one protecting Mercedes before fizzling out.

"Damn," Lauran Zizes said as she stopped her work with Puck to stare over at Kurt.

"You mean _da-a-ayumn_." Artie called from the other side of the room.

"Bloody hell, Blaine, did you see-"

"Leave Kurt _alone,_ guys."

"But the _agility!_"

Blaine sighed. "Thad?"

"Enough, you two."

"Well," Professor Sylvester said, "it's good to know that Hogwarts has finally acquired a student who isn't infinitely more useless to wizarding society than a drunken mountain troll who has spent the majority of its miserable existence snorting fairy dust. Well done, Porcelain. Ten points to Ravenclaw."

Diagonal to Kurt, Rachel clenched her jaw tightly shut (though it was obvious that she had quite a few things on her mind) and turned back to Finn, who merely looked confused. Mike Chang and Tina shared a silent glance with each other. Puck grinned in an oddly prideful way as Lauren started guffawing loudly. Artie had a look on his face as if he had just caught a whiff of some really bad cheese. Nick had his wand aimed at the back of Professor Sylvester's head, but before he could do anything, Wes and David latched onto his arm and forced it back down to his side; Jeff cackling like a madman as they struggled to keep it there. Santana glared angrily at Kurt, who rolled his eyes and redirected his gaze to the much more favorable sight of Blaine's encouraging smile.

Professor Sylvester glared at them all. "I've never seen such pathetic attempts at magic. If you all think this is hard, try living in a house infested by Quintapeds. _That's_ hard."

Several people rolled their eyes.

"It must get really loud in your house, Professor," Brittany said in a flat voice.

Everyone turned to stare at her with confused looks on their faces.

"What are you talking about, honey?" Santana asked with a patient sweetness in her voice that Kurt wouldn't have otherwise believed she was capable of.

"Five babies is a lot. And if they all start crying, it must get really loud."

"I think you're thinking of quintuplets," Blaine said kindly.

"Isn't that the same thing?"

Blaine shook his head.

"Oh."

"Get back to work," Professor Sylvester snapped.

Everyone practiced hard for the rest of the class but the only one to perform the technique successfully besides Kurt was Finn, who had done so by accident when he tripped over his untied shoelace. Disgusted, Professor Sylvester had proclaimed them all a 'bunch of useless, whiney babies' and sent them off with a slew of homework. The Gryffindors went off to do whatever it was they needed to do while the seven Ravenclaw boys made their way down to the dungeons for their Potions class.

And Kurt finally noticed something.

"Hey, are there any Ravenclaw girls in our year?"

"Ha!" Jeff exclaimed. "You, my friend," he pointed to a scowling Nick, "owe me five Galleons."

"Thanks a lot," Nick grumbled at Kurt as he passed five golden coins over to Jeff.

"Do I want to know?" Kurt asked Jeff.

"We placed a bet on how long it would take for you to notice the absence of girls within our group."

"I gathered that, yes."

Ignoring Kurt's sarcasm, Jeff continued on as if Kurt hadn't spoken. "I gave you until the end of the week. Nick here said that you just wouldn't notice."

"Wait," Kurt held up a hand. "As in _never_?"

"Never ever," Jeff confirmed with a happy smile.

Kurt folded his arms across his chest and scowled at Nick. "I'm gay, not blind."

Blaine laughed and Nick made to shove the curly haired boy but Blaine sidestepped and Nick missed. "Shut it, Anderson."

David stepped around Blaine and Nick to avoid getting caught in the scuffle and went to stand by Kurt. "To answer your question, Kurt," the dark skinned boy began with an air of importance, "none of the girls in our year were sorted into Ravenclaw. It was the first time something like that had ever happened in all Hogwarts' history."

"It hasn't happened since, either," Wes pointed out.

Nick gave up on trying to land a hit on Blaine to grin snidely over at Wes and David. "Well, of course it hasn't happened since. The danger has passed."

David's eyes narrowed. "What danger?"

"The danger of having to share a house for seven years with you two ugly tossers, that's what."

Jeff snickered. "The girls probably took one look at you both and begged the hat to be placed elsewhere."

"That's rubbish," David scoffed. "If anything, they stayed away because of you two," he said, gesturing between Nick and Jeff.

"Blasphemy!" Jeff exclaimed.

"We're beautiful!"

"Yeah," Jeff nodded emphatically. "We're-" He cut off to frown over at Nick. For several seconds, Jeff looked the black haired boy slowly up and down. Upon the completion of his assessment, he wrinkled his nose. "Well, _I'm_ beautiful, at least."

"_WHAT?_"

Jeff grinned and dodged Nick's fist. Ducking behind Thad, Jeff wrapped his arms around the shorter boy and placed a loud kiss on his cheek. "You think I'm beautiful, don't you, muffin?"

Thad turned red and twisted out of Jeff's arms. "Idiot," he mumbled.

Jeff laughed loudly and was finally thumped over the head by Nick.

Kurt turned away from the chaos to look over to his right at Blaine "So, what's Professor Slughorn like?"

"Well, I guess you could say that he makes a hobby out of collecting students," he answered immediately.

Kurt's eyes grew wide. "That… sounds incredibly disturbing."

Blaine laughed. "Not like that. He's a talent seeker."

"Yeah, not really feeling any less disturbed."

Blaine laughed again and Kurt decided that he really liked what laughter did to the color of Blaine's eyes. But then Blaine was talking and Kurt had to force himself to focus.

"It just means that if you're particularly good at something, or special in any way, he will invite you to join this club he created. He calls it the Slug Club. I think he likes the idea of building relationships with people who can potentially become famous. You know, for his own future benefit."

Listening to Blaine's description of the Potions Master, Kurt couldn't help but find it as further confirmation that Hogwarts harbored some of the strangest people alive. "He sounds kind of like a jerk."

Blaine scrunched up his nose in that adorably endearing way. "Well, no, not really. Somehow he still manages to be a pretty decent person in spite of himself. Ignores people he doesn't deem worthy enough of his special attentions, maybe, but he's not… _mean_ to anyone."

The second they all stepped into the dungeon, a short, round man with a rather impressive silver mustache ran up to them - or Blaine, more specifically. "Blaine, my boy! How was your holiday?"

"Fine, thanks," Blaine said with a friendly smile.

"Good, good. Now, don't tell me you'll be declining my invitations to join us at dinner again this year."

Blaine winced. "I'm sorry, Professor, but I really am very busy."

Slughorn sighed. "Yes, yes, of course. Can't blame me for trying, though. But Thad, you'll still come, won't you?"

Thad nodded curtly. "Yes."

"What about us?" Nick and Jeff asked in sync and Slughorn gave them a weary look. They grinned manically back at him.

"Er - no. No. Sorry, boys, but we're all - ah - _full_ this year," he said before rushing off.

The two of them laughed and went off to sit down. Kurt looked to Blaine for an explanation.

"Third year they got it into their heads that he looked like a walrus and tried to transfigure him."

Kurt's mouth fell open. "Oh my god. They're crazy. How were they not expelled?"

Blaine shrugged. "Probably because they did it successfully. They act like idiots but they both get top marks on everything and transfiguration is their best subject. They already have a NEWT in it, actually, which is why they aren't taking it anymore. And Slughorn wasn't injured. Physically, at least. I think the shock of it all really messed him up, though."

Kurt didn't blame him. If two thirteen year olds had tried to transfigure him, he would have had a heart attack.

Due to the difficulty of their first assignment, they didn't do anything in the way of actual potion making, which was perfectly fine with Kurt since he wasn't the biggest fan of potions anyway - too messy. Instead, everyone watched Slughorn as he demonstrated some of the more difficult steps of their future assignment.

About half way through the demonstration, Kurt glanced up from his notes to find the boy sitting at the table to his immediate right staring intently at him. They looked at each other for a few seconds before Kurt rose his eyebrows in a silent what-the-hell-are-you-staring-at-me-for?

A nasty smirk broke out over the boy's face and Kurt turned to look back at his paper with a huff. Gripping his quill, he tried his best to ignore the boy's unwanted attention and focus on taking notes. He wasn't very successful at it, though, because the entire situation creeped him out. He couldn't help glancing over every so often in the hope that the Slytherin had found something else to leer at. But every time he dared to look, the other boy was still sitting there staring, smirking, and now laughing quietly at him.

It making Kurt extremely uncomfortable, which meant that he was starting to get seriously pissed off. He was just about to demand what the Slytherin's problem was when Blaine's hand on his arm made Kurt jump.

Angry that he had been so easily startled, Kurt turned to Blaine with a scowl on his face and was surprised to find the curly haired boy glaring back at him, his jaw tight. It took him a few seconds to realize that it wasn't Kurt who Blaine was glaring at, but the Slytherin boy.

"Switch seats with me," Blaine said softly without taking his eyes off the Slytherin and Kurt was further surprised at how gentle Blaine's voice was. It reminded Kurt of the day before when Blaine had spoken to him in that same gentle tone despite the bruising way he held onto Kurt's shoulders.

Still, Blaine's strange behavior aside, Kurt readily agreed to the switch, eager to be away from the boy and whatever his problem was.

Once the switch had been made and Blaine was sitting between Kurt and the Slytherin, effectively blocking the latter's view of the former, Blaine seemed to relax.

"That was rude of me," Blaine said with a guilty smile. "I should have asked you."

"It's okay," Kurt reassured him. "He was creeping me out, anyway."

Blaine nodded and they both turned back to focus on Slughorn, who didn't seem to notice anything that had just happened. Not that Kurt was going to complain about that.

When class ended, everyone packed up their belongings and Kurt stood up to follow Blaine to the exit, but the Slytherin boy blocked his path. Kurt looked up at the taller boy in annoyance and steeled himself for whatever snide remark was about to be thrown at him so that he was prepared to respond in kind.

"Well, aren't you pretty?" the boy smirked.

Kurt narrowed his eyes, but before he got the chance to so much as open his mouth, Blaine, who looked so little compared to the bulky Slytherin, shouldered the other boy roughly out of the way. "Come on, Kurt," Blaine said, holding out his hand.

Too startled to do anything else, Kurt took the hand Blaine offered and allowed himself to be pulled towards the dungeon door, but not before glancing back behind him.

The Slytherin boy's face was bright red with anger, and his jaw was bulging unattractively at either side of his face but he said nothing more to either Blaine or Kurt. Kurt found this odd seeing as how the Slytherin looked as if he could probably have snapped both of them in half without much difficulty, but one look at Blaine's incredibly tense shoulders told Kurt not to ask questions just then. He would find out later.

But by the time later came, after dinner and homework and waiting for Blaine to return from Prefect patrol, when Kurt was warm and comfortable in his bed and dozing off to the sweet sound of Blaine's voice accompanied by his guitar, he had forgotten about it.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Next up, Kurt gets on a broom!**

**And thank you again to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. You'll probably get tired of me saying that, but I appreciate all of your reviews so much that it simply cannot go left unsaid. **

**On a side note, thank you to Lovefremione (very interesting ship btw!) for pointing out typos. I went back and fixed them (I'm incredibly nit picky as well). I could have sworn I had fixed the Santana one before, but apparently not. The rest were stupidity on my part, so thanks!  
><strong>

**I'm hoping to get the next chapter out before Sunday. I shall endeavor to try my best!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: Since we have only seen the one Klaine kiss, we can all safely assume I have not been given ownership rights of **_**Glee**_**. And as far as **_**Harry Potter**_** goes, seeing as how I still only have about five dollars in my bank account, I seriously doubt I own that either.**

**A/N: So, I know I said I would get this out by Sunday, but holy hell, this chapter turned into a monster. It's not my fault, I swear. Once these boys start whispering ideas in my head, they won't shut up, and then, once I've said everything they told me to say, I realize that I've written like twenty pages…**

* * *

><p>"You know," Kurt said as he finished readying his third cup of coffee and peered around Blaine to scowl at Wes and David, "not <em>everyone<em> has to wake up at six in the morning _every_ morning. And by 'everyone' I am referring to myself since I don't start class today until eleven."

"Yes, but the handbook clearly states that students are expected to be in the Great Hall for breakfast starting at seven thirty," David said.

"Exactly," Kurt agreed. "_Starting_ at seven thirty. That doesn't mean we actually have to be here at that exact time. As long as we come before eight thirty, when breakfast ends, we'll be fine."

Wes frowned and pulled out a pocket sized book from his robes that had _Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry: Rules and Regulations _written in gold lettering above the school crest on its cover. Kurt stared blankly at the book as Wes flipped to a certain page and began reading. "I see no mention of that here in the rules," the Asian boy said.

"I give up," Kurt grumbled.

"We all did eventually," Blaine said in a sympathetic tone.

"I haven't," Jeff announced in a grumpy tone. "I _will_ find your stash," he threatened Wes.

"Never going to happen," Wes replied in a bored tone as he placed the book back in his robes.

Kurt turned to Blaine. "I don't know how you've managed to put up with all of this for so long."

"It's not so bad," the other boy said, reaching for a muffin - his second.

"Not so bad?" Kurt asked. "I feel like I've been here for months and it's only been three days."

"Aw, c'mon, dove, we're not _that_ bad," Nick said, grinning.

Kurt's coffee cup froze half way to his lips. "Don't call me that," he scowled.

Beside Nick, Jeff made a face. "We can't call you Kurtsie, you don't like dove-"

"Or poppit," Nick chimed in.

Jeff glared at Kurt. "You threatened to hit me when I called you Button Nose."

"You _did_ hit me when I called you Gaybe Face."

"And you absolutely despised…" Jeff looked over at Nick, a ridiculous grin on his face. "What was it again, my Nick? I seem to have forgotten."

"I believe, my Jeff, you are referring Galleon Globes," Nick stated happily.

"Ah, yes."

"Though, I still don't see why you don't like that one," Nick said to Kurt as he scrunched up in features in mock confusion.

"It's a complement!" Jeff insisted.

"To your very fine ass," Nick continued.

"Which, we are still both convinced you could bounce a Galleon off of."

"Though _someone,_" Nick glowered at Kurt, "refuses to let us try."

Kurt huffed irritably, determined not to respond to their latest bit of nonsense carried over to this morning from the night before.

After Charms yesterday, Kurt had finally cracked. Kurt Hummel could handle a lot of things, but the feel of cheap, blended fabrics rubbing constantly against his skin was apparently not one of them. So, as soon as they got back to the dormitory, Kurt had marched himself into the bathroom and proceeded to rip off every bit of the offensive fabric from his body, which he replaced with skinny jeans, his favorite light blue Alexander McQueen shirt, and his Dr. Martens lace-up boots that stopped just bellow the knee.

Nick and Jeff had had a field day at the sight of him; spouting off ridiculous poems they made up on the spot dedicated to the 'fine shape of his bum' - their words, not his - while Wes and David lectured him on importance of maintaining professional dress during school hours.

"But Galleon bouncing aside…" Nick's voice interrupted into Kurt's thoughts.

"Which, incidentally, we _will_ get you to let us try before this year is up," Jeff promised with a determined look in his eyes.

"…what _can_ we call you?" they finally asked together.

"_Kurt_!" he snapped.

Nick and Jeff both looked at each other, testing his name out on their tongues and stressing its final consonant sound to an unnecessary degree.

"We don't like it," Jeff said as they both turned simultaneously back to Kurt.

Before Kurt could seriously commit to hexing the both of them, Blaine intervened.

"Kurt, do you want to go for a walk with me?"

The invite had been so sudden and so out of place amidst all of the nonsense that Kurt hardly knew what to do with himself, which was why he responded lamely with, "Oh… umm… okay, I guess."

"You can say no if you would rather not go. I promise I wont take offense," Blaine said, looking as if he meant it.

"You would do best to stay here," Jeff said to Kurt.

"Yeah," Nick said, grinning. "He might try and ravish you if you go."

"In the most dapper way possible, of course," Jeff added.

Blaine frowned disapprovingly at the two of them but Kurt could make out a light blush on his cheeks.

"No, I want to," Kurt hurried to reassure the other boy. "You just caught me off guard. But I want to. You know… umm, go, that is."

"Merlin, will you both just snog already," Nick muttered in a whiny tone, but Blaine either hadn't heard or just chose to ignore it because he grinned happily at Kurt and hopped to his feet.

"Brilliant!"

Feeling a little nervous, Kurt stood up and tried his best to ignore Nick and Jeff, who had begun discussing the best way to tell Kurt's parents that their son had been ravished to death by a hobbit. Again, Blaine didn't seem to notice. He just kept grinning dorkishly - but in a cute way - and looped his arm around Kurt's.

"Shall we?"

"Um, sure," Kurt said and together they walked towards the exit. He felt a bit like he was in a daze, but not to the point where he didn't notice almost everyone staring at them.

When they were finally out of the Great Hall and away from everyone's stares, Blaine released Kurt's arm. "They can be a bit much. I thought you might need a break."

Kurt smiled a little and hoped that the disappointment he felt at the loss of contact didn't show in his eyes. "I did," he said truthfully. "I like them and all, but…"

"But only in small doses?" Blaine suggested helpfully.

"I wouldn't go that far. More like only when it's not this early in the morning," he explained. "In case you haven't figured it out yet, I'm not a morning person."

Blaine grinned and did that shoulder bump thing that made Kurt feel as if they had known each other all their lives. "I had my suspicions."

"That obvious?"

"The eight thousand cups of coffee you down each morning might have given you away."

They turned a corner and Kurt noted that he had absolutely no idea where they were going. Not that he minded. He was perfectly content to walk beside Blaine and just talk. "I keep forgetting to tell you, because I always fall asleep, but I really like your singing voice."

"Yeah?"

Kurt nodded.

"Well, thanks!" Blaine smiled big. "Yours is, like, way better, though."

Kurt scowled. "Mine makes me sound like a girl," he grumbled.

"So?" Blaine asked as if it really didn't matter and boys sang and spoke the way Kurt did all of the time. "Girly or not, the little bit that I heard was beautiful. Actually, I had been hoping to hear more," he hinted suggestively.

Kurt's eyebrows rose. "Now?" he asked, looking around them. They were completely alone and the act seemed kind of intimate.

But Blaine shrugged and simply said as if it was no big deal, "Sure. Go for it."

"…Alright." Kurt said. Why not? He loved to sing and Blaine had asked.

Trying not to feel too awkward about serenading his roommate, Kurt started to sing the first song that popped into his mind. "Pure Imagination" seemed fitting given his current location, though he certainly didn't feel like the guide that the lyrics made him out to be.

Honestly, Kurt felt a little silly. He had never sang for anyone other than himself before (Burt had _heard_ Kurt sing, but Kurt had never sung _for_ his father), but his voice didn't waver and it kind of felt nice to sing for someone, anyway. Especially Blaine, who was smiling sweetly as he listened, his eyes clouded as if he was focused solely on hearing to the sounds coming from Kurt's throat and nothing else.

When he finished the song, Blaine turned to him with a smile so soft it made Kurt's stomach dip. "You've got beautiful control," he said. "Your voice is so unique."

Kurt didn't know what to say to that other than 'thanks,' which felt inadequate, but he said it anyway. "I've never done that before," he admitted after a short, silent pause. "Sing for someone, I mean."

"Well, I'm happy that I was your first."

Kurt loved the way Blaine sounded as if he really meant it. "Me, too."

* * *

><p>"We're being followed," Blaine said to Kurt as they made their way down to the Quidditch pitch for Kurt's first flying lesson.<p>

"That sounds really cryptic," Kurt remarked as he turned to look behind them in time to catch Wes, David, Jeff, Nick, and to Kurt's surprise, Finn, and Puck throw themselves behind a small fern. Even if the tree had been size capable of hiding just one of them (which it wasn't), Thad, who was scowling at the six boys with a look of disgust on his face, would have given them away.

"They can't be serious," Kurt said.

Blaine shook his head at their friends. "Unfortunately, they can."

It was then that the implications of their presence overshadowed his incredulity at their actions and Kurt felt instantly nervous. "Don't tell me they're going to watch me fly."

Blaine looked away from their ridiculous roommates to look at Kurt instead. "You want me to try and get rid of them?"

"Will that work?" Kurt asked a bit frantic, his eyes wide.

Blaine winced. "Ah, probably not, no."

"Oh, god," Kurt moaned. The prospect of making a fool out of himself in front of a group of eleven-year-olds who could probably fly in perfect circles around him with their eyes closed had been bad enough without adding his peers into the mix.

"You've really never flown before?" Blaine asked as they stopped at the border of the pitch.

"No," Kurt squeaked. He'd never even touched a broom, the flying kind or otherwise. "Oh, god," he said again.

Blaine rubbed Kurt's back in wide circles. "You'll be alright. You'll do fine. And I'll stay and make sure they don't bother you."

_That_ was hardly comforting. The very last person Kurt wanted there was Blaine. Obviously somebody somewhere hated him.

A hand that wasn't Blaine's clapped Kurt on the shoulder.

"Nervous, Hummel?" Puck asked as he walked by on his way towards the stands with the rest of the sixth year boys, who apparently had given up on trying to hide their presence. Nick and Jeff waved jauntily at Kurt.

Ignoring them, Kurt scowled over at Puck and said nothing.

Puck laughed and spun around to keep Kurt in his line of sight, walking backwards. "Hey, the way I see it, you've more than got this. I mean, your kind was made to handle long sticks." With his bottom lip caught between his teeth, Puck smirked at Kurt as he grabbed his crotch and gave it a vulgar shake. "Grip it right, grip it tight, yeah?"

Blaine scowled, unamused. "Yes, thank you for that, Noah."

Puck laughed and Finn grabbed him by the back of his collar to spin him back around. "Are you mental? That's my little brother!"

Blaine turned his attention back to Kurt. "Well, he's right about the you doing fine bit, at least," he said, offering Kurt a reassuring smile. "You better get over there," he nodded towards the group at the center of the pitch. "It's almost eleven."

Despite his earlier reservations against Blaine staying, Kurt absolutely did not want the other boy to leave his side. But he forced himself _not_ to latch onto Blaine like a vice and instead turned to walk over to the group of first year Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs.

He stopped at the empty space beside Ted Lupin, who looked as if he was going to pass out. "Hey, Ted. Are you okay?"

"Wotcher," the boy whispered back. His hair and eyes were rapidly changing colors.

"Are you okay?" Kurt repeated, unsure whether or not he should risk placing a comforting hand on the first year's shoulder.

Ted shook his head. "I'm rubbish at flying. Once, when I was five, I pinched Harry's broom and nearly killed myself."

Mostly, this sentence just confused Kurt, who had absolutely no idea who Harry was, why anyone would want to pinch a broomstick or how doing so might be life threatening - it wasn't as if the broom could feel it, right? Still, Kurt figured that he should say _something_ encouraging. "Well, umm, you're eleven now, right? So maybe you don't need to worry?"

But Teddy shook his head, his hair still going haywire. "Not likely. I'm really clumsy. Gran says I got it from my mum. I dunno how I'm supposed to fly when I can't even walk three feet without tripping over the air."

Kurt had been about to respond when a thin witch with short gray hair and yellow eyes put a stop to all conversations with a sharp whistle. Without so much as a 'good morning' or a mention of her name - which, thanks to his schedule, Kurt knew was Madam Hooch - she ordered everyone to stick their right hands over their brooks and say 'up!'

Kurt hesitated. If pinching a broom was dangerous than he wanted absolutely nothing to do with holding one in his hand. And he wasn't the only one. Across from him, a particularly short Ravenclaw girl was saying the command in a small voice, and every time the broom twitched in response she would yelp and jerk her hand away.

Madam Hooch stopped in front of Kurt. "Well, what are you waiting for?"

Kurt looked into her hawk like eyes. "I would really prefer to stay on the ground."

Her face softened a bit. "First time on a broom?"

"Yes, Ma'am," Kurt said, and she nodded.

"Well, there's no need to worry. We'll only be going a couple feet off the ground for today. Nothing to be afraid of. Now, right you are. Hand over the broom and give the command."

Kurt glanced around. Several of the first years were already holding their brooms and none of them seemed to be hurt or in pain. Even Ted had managed to call his broom into his hand, though he was looking at it as if he was afraid it might try to bite him.

Madam Hooch was waiting, looking expectantly at Kurt.

Kurt sighed and held out his hand. "Up," he said softly. Nothing happened, which was perfectly fine with him.

Madam Hooch clucked her tongue. "No, no, with feeling. Again."

Well, _fine_.

"UP!"

The broom shot of the ground like a bullet into Kurt's hand. From the stands someone yelled, "Merlin's saggy bits, Blaine, _did you see that! _I mean, _did you SEE it!_"

Madam Hooch's eyebrows rose high, her eyes locked on the broom in Kurt's hand, but all she said was "Good," before moving on to inspect the rest of the students' progress.

"Alright," Madamn Hooch in a loud voice much too soon for Kurt's liking. "Now that everyone has got a broom in hand, I want you to mount them - broom between the legs, arms straight with both hands gripping the handle about one third of the way down. Make sure that the bristles are touching the ground. We don't want anyone sliding off face first."

Kurt tried to do as he was instructed, feeling foolish. There was no graceful way to stand with a broom between your legs.

Hooch walked down the line, inspecting stances and occasionally correcting someone's legs or arms. "Alright. We're going to keep it simple for now. Hover maneuvers only. I don't wan to see any one of you flying around. On my mark," she held up her whistle for everyone to see, giving it a good shake, "kick hard off the ground."

When the whistle blew several kids kicked off right away while others hesitated. One boy, who looked as if he was near tears, whispered, "I can't, I'll _fall,_" in a terrified voice.

A few of them actually did fall.

Only a couple managed to perform the task successfully, and even they were a bit wobbly.

Kurt watched them all closely before he took a deep breath and kicked off the ground, sure that the more intimate areas of his body were about to be in serious pain.

His broom hovered neatly over the ground, completely steady.

Loud yells of encouragement sounded from the stands, but Kurt barely heard them, he was so in shock. He was flying. _Flying. _Well, hovering, technically, but couldn't help the giggle that escaped his lips. It felt absolutely amazing and it didn't hurt at all. His entire body felt so _light_. The broom felt like an extension of himself.

Through his peripheral vision, a rapid, flailing movement caught his attention, and Kurt threw a hand out to steady Ted, who had been about to fall on his face.

The Hufflepuff offered him a grateful look. "Told you," he mumbled, his cheeks and hair going red.

Madam Hooch clapped her hands sharply together. "Alright, I want everyone in the air to come back down. To those of you who haven't made it up yet, don't be discouraged. Most people don't succeed on their first try. Alright, lets go again."

After they had practiced hovering a few more times, Madam Hooch instructed those who had a handle on it to practice some forward maneuvers and turns while she focused on helping those who were having trouble balancing themselves in the air. No one was permitted to go any higher than two feet off the ground, which was fine with Kurt. He liked flying, maybe even loved it, but he also liked knowing that if he happened to fall, the ground wasn't too far down.

By the time the lesson was over, Kurt just _knew_ his hair was in disarray and his cheeks were red. He did what he could with his hair by combing his fingers through it (he would have to remember to bring a comb and mirror next time) but there was nothing that could be done for his blotchy complexion. He was almost too elated to care.

Blaine met Kurt on the pitch. He was followed closely by everyone else, though Nick, Jeff, and Thad were no where to be seen. "Kurt, that was amazing!"

"Thank you," Kurt said with an easy smile and a breathless laugh. "Though, I don't think that flying two feet off the ground quite constitutes as being 'amazing.'"

David snorted. "It does when you manage to do so without falling off your broom your first time in the air."

Finn nodded. "You were wicked. Even I wasn't that good my first time out."

"That's not saying much," Wes muttered, earning himself an angry scowl from Kurt.

"Thank you, Finn," Kurt said kindly to his brother.

Puck punched Kurt lightly in the arm. "You rode that broomstick like it was your _bitch_. You should totally play Quidditch. That way you would get to bugger around with long sticks _and_ balls. S'right up your alley, yeah?"

Kurt looked up at the taller boy with an air of nonchalance. "Oh? Is that why you like it so much, Puckerman?" he asked with a straight face.

Blaine coughed lightly into his first to hide a laugh. Finn had his eyebrows raised in wide eyed amusement. David's lips were pressed tightly together, though he was letting out loud puffs of laughter through his nose. Looking extremely uneasy, Wes backed slowly away from Puck until he was as far away from the mohawked boy as possible. Puck stared at Kurt with a look on his face caught somewhere between chagrin and amusement. Amusement must have won out, though, because it wasn't long before his lips stretched into a wolfish grin.

"My respect, Hummel: you've got it."

* * *

><p>All throughout lunch, Jeff and Nick remained conspicuously out of sight, but definitely not out of mind. Given their propensity towards mischief, their absence slightly worried Kurt, but he kept his concerns to himself and focused on eating his food - a garden salad that was slightly less amazing than the one Blaine had gotten for him yesterday, which meant that it was still damn good.<p>

After lunch, Kurt was left to his own devices when the rest of the boys left for their Arithmancy class. Fully intending to make a large dent in the ungodly huge amount of homework that Hogwarts professors were so keen on assigning, he headed for the library.

Like Hogwarts itself, its library was enormous. There were so many books stacked on the hundreds of shelves that it looked about ready to burst at the seams.

And unlike the one at McKinley, the library at Hogwarts actually felt like a library. It was so _quiet_. Mostly Kurt figured this had to do with the stern looking librarian, Madam Pince, who sort of looked at you like she might set your robes aflame if you so much as cleared your throat.

Walking to an empty table near the back, Kurt sat down and immediately got to work.

It felt weird to be alone, which was ironic because before he came to Hogwarts, he had spent most of his time that way. After his mom died, without Elizabeth to help out financially, Burt had been forced to spend most of his time working. At first it had been to pay off all of the hospital and funeral bills. Once the bills were all paid, however, his father's business had grown considerably and, well, that required a lot of Burt's time and attention, too. Kurt hadn't complained. He told himself that he liked being alone. Being alone meant more time to do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted to do it.

But now…

For someone who had grown up with only one other person for company, Kurt was surprised at how irritated he was _not_ at being surrounded by a multitude of people all the time. He couldn't recall spending a single second alone since he had arrived at Hogwarts and he was surprised to find that he actually liked it that way.

The sound of wooden chair legs scraping across the stone floor cut through Kurt's musings. He frowned when looked up to find the leering Slytherin boy from his Potions class sitting in the chair directly across from him.

"Hello," the boy said as he propped his feet up on the table. Mud flecks fell from his shoes and onto the polished oak.

"Hi," Kurt said tightly, wanting nothing to do with the Slytherin.

The boy grinned as if Kurt had said something funny and Kurt observed that he was actually pretty attractive - short, chestnut hair, deep green eyes, strong chin, good nose - but his distasteful personality took away from any aesthetic appeal he had.

"Mind if I sit here?"

Kurt scowled. "You already are." Putting down his quill, he started closing his books. "But, sure, go ahead. I'm leaving anyway."

The boy laughed, a cocky sound that grated on Kurt's nerves. Assholes were always the same. Kurt started stuffing the books into his bag with a bit more force than was necessary.

"Aw, because of me?" the boy asked, his tone snarky and cruel.

Kurt sent the boy a waspish look and defiantly met his eyes. "Actually, yes."

The other boy's eyebrows shot up in surprise. Obviously he hadn't expected Kurt to be honest. Too bad for him that Kurt was a brutal honesty kind of a guy.

"Well, that's new," the Slytherin said, leaning back in his chair and looking completely at ease. He grinned at Kurt. "You've certainly got the bits to back up that bitchy air about you. I like it," he said, though something about his tone suggested otherwise.

"How very special for you," Kurt said, shouldering his bag. As he walked away, the other boy's gaze on him felt heavy, like a physical weight pressing down on him. It made his skin crawl.

Kurt had only just stepped out of the library when an insistent hand on his wrist stopped him. Spinning around, Kurt yanked his hand out of the firm grip.

"Don't touch me," he said harshly, realizing too late that it hadn't been the Slytherin boy who grabbed him.

"I'm sorry," Blaine said in a rush, releasing Kurt's wrist as if it burned him. The hurt in Blaine's hazel eyes rendered Kurt momentarily speechless.

"I'm sorry," Blaine said again. "Professor Vector asked me to return a book she borrowed. I just… I saw you leaving. I called your name but you didn't… I… I'll go."

The moment Blaine turned to leave, Kurt found his voice. "No! I didn't mean to yell. Well, I didn't mean to yell at _you._ I thought you were someone else." At Blaine's confused look, Kurt explained, "That Slytherin kid from Potions class came up to me in the library. I thought he was the one who…" Kurt trailed off, figuring the implication was clear enough.

Blaine's jaw tightened. "Are you okay? Did he say something to you?"

Kurt shrugged. "Just 'hi,' really. I didn't stick around very long." He suddenly remembered that he had forgotten to ask Blaine about the obvious tension that existed between the two boys. Kurt was curious to know, but he also got the feeling that it was a sensitive subject for Blaine and that if Kurt wanted answers, he needed to go about getting them delicately.

"So, what is his problem, anyway?" Kurt asked, trying to avoid being too direct. "Is he a homophobe or something?"

Blaine frowned and something dark settled in his eyes. "You could say that. But, at the same time, I guess you couldn't."

"What do you mean?" Kurt asked. Something about Blaine's tone made Kurt feel unsettled. Like he really didn't want to know the answer.

And if the look on Blaine's face was any indication, he didn't want to provide Kurt with one. "I'm not sure how to explain it… Just try to stay away from him."

Sensing that he wasn't going to get anything more out of Blaine, Kurt decided to let the subject drop. "No complaints there."

Blaine smiled at Kurt, but there was a nervousness in his eyes.

* * *

><p>Kurt was a careful eater. With the way he dressed, he had to be. One didn't just spill food on a four hundred and ninety five dollar Ralph Lauren cardigan and then go out and buy another like it was nothing. Unless your father was Bill Gates, the idea of it was laughable.<p>

Therefore, at dinner that night, when his food had failed to make it into his mouth by falling off his fork, down his gray sweater vest, and onto his lap, he should have been a little bit more suspicious and a little less annoyed with himself. But Kurt abhorred getting his clothing dirty, even if said clothing was a cheap school uniform that consisted of abrasive fabrics, so he merely excused himself from the table.

Kurt muttered to himself all the way to the bathroom about the seriousness of his current predicament - what if he _had _been wearing his own clothes? The idea of it made him shudder.

Over the bathroom sink, he used water to wash away the excess pasta sauce that hadn't seeped into the fabric yet. After that, the rest could be taken care of magically. While he never got _his_ clothes dirty, Kurt had saved more of Burt's shirts than he cared to remember.

When his clothing was all clean, Kurt walked towards the exist and pulled open the bathroom door. He started at the sight of Nick and Jeff waiting for him directly on the other side.

"'Ello there, beautiful," Jeff greeted.

Clutching at his racing heart with his right hand, Kurt scowled at the endearment but held his tongue. Maybe if he kept his mouth shut they would eventually get bored with trying to goad him. And there was no doubt in Kurt's mind that they _were _goading him.

"Where have you two been?" Kurt asked instead of returning the greeting. When he tried to walk by them, they turned and threw their arms around his shoulders.

"Around," Jeff said. "Sorry about the pasta sauce, by the way, but we needed to get you alone."

"That was _you_?" Kurt demanded, unamused.

Nick squeezed Kurt closer. "To answer your first question, we spent hours thinking up the best, most proper way to congratulate you for being so brilliant on a broom."

"And then we thought, what better way to do that than with a present?"

Kurt was fairly sure that he could do without whatever they had gotten him. "I flew two feet off the ground," he reminded in a snappish way, still miffed about the pasta sauce. As for his first experience on a broom, he really didn't see what everyone was going on about. Surely flying so low to the ground that the tips of his toes brushed the grass wasn't as amazing as all that.

"But you did it so well!" Jeff countered. "And on a school broom, too."

Nick nodded. "So we did you the favor of signing you up to try out for the team!"

Kurt couldn't really say he was all that surprised. But still. "There is absolutely _no_ way," he started, but Jeff cut him off.

"No talking crumpet, just listen," he ordered, tapping Kurt on the nose with his index finger.

Kurt gaped at the blonde and Nick took advantage of Kurt's shocked incredulity to say, "You'll be trying out for the position of Seeker."

Jeff pulled a book from his robes and shoved it into Kurt's hands. "So you might want to read up a bit on what exactly a Seeker does so that you're not fumbling around like a blithering idiot next Saturday."

A quick glanced down informed Kurt of its title: _Quidditch Through the Ages. _He rolled his eyes.

Not wanting to encourage them, Kurt tried to shove the book back but found he couldn't. As if there was some kind of invisible glue on the book's surface, it remained in his hands and refused to be let go.

Laughing, Nick and Jeff released their hold on Kurt's shoulders and backed away, but Kurt was too busy trying to free himself to care. After a few seconds of violently shaking his arms in a futile attempt to dislodge the unwanted reader, he rounded on the two boys, about to start yelling.

But before he could get a word out edgewise, Nick pulled out his wand and shot a spell at Kurt that resonated deep inside his throat. The spell was cold and it made his throat feel heavy. When Kurt opened his mouth to ask what they had done, no sound came out. With his lips pressed into a thin line, Kurt glared at the two in abject outrage.

With his eyes trained wearily on Kurt, Jeff leaned towards Nick. "He's turning purple," he whispered loudly. "What did you _do_? If we break him Blaine will not be pleased."

With brows furrowed in deep concentration, Nick also studied Kurt, who was now yelling at what should have been the top of his lungs.

"That, my Jeff," Nick waved a hand at Kurt's face, "is not purple. That would be Kurt Gone Mental red."

Jeff pondered that silently for a moment. "Oh. Well, I suppose that's alright, then." He leaned towards Kurt for a closer look. "You know, now that I'm looking, it's quite a nice color. Vibrant, even."

"Yes, I thought so. Perhaps we should patent it."

Kurt took a swing at the two with the book still stuck in his hands. He missed.

"Now, none of that," Nick admonished, waving a finger. "We still have to go over the particulars of why you're stuck like this. Because, you see, there is actually a method to all of our madness."

Jeff once again leaned towards Kurt, but not close enough to be within hitting distance. "Don't tell Madam Pince," he whispered, eyes wide with mock seriousness, "but we might maybe may have placed a spell on that book. A small one."

"Tiny, really," Nick added.

"So minuscule it's really not worth mentioning."

Nick grinned devilishly. "Not like you _can_ at the moment, anyway," he said and Kurt scowled.

"Basically, if you really had absolutely _no _interest in Quidditch, you would have been able to let it go."

"But hey, look at that!" Nick gasped, gesturing wildly, "It's stuck!"

Jeff chanced moving closer to Kurt to grab hold of Kurt's arm and give it a good shake. "Yes, it certainly seems that way."

Kurt jerked his arm roughly out of Jeff's grasp and Nick and Jeff howled with laughter. Kurt scowled after them as they turned and walked away with their arms around each other's shoulders, each on leaning heavily on the other as they cracked up. Kurt took back everything he thought the day before about being grateful that they treated him like he was part of the group. Especially since being part of the group obviously meant subjecting himself to their prankish nonsense.

"Should you wish to regain the use of your hands," Nick called without turning around as he and Jeff neared the end of the hall, "you might try turning to page 26 and indulging a bit!"

Once they turned the corner, leaving his sight completely, Kurt felt the heaviness in his throat lift. Just to be sure, though, Kurt opened his mouth and muttered, "Idiots," softly to himself. Well, at least he could speak out loud again.

He looked down at his hands. The frayed library book looked innocently back up at him. He frowned at it, considering his options.

They could have just used a sticking charm, but the magic surrounding the book felt heavier than something so simple as that. Still, spells that tapped into one's subconscious thoughts and feelings were extremely advanced.

Was he really going to believe that two sixteen year old boys - whether they were in Ravenclaw or not - were capable of that kind of spell casting?

Heaving a sigh, Kurt opened the book and brought it up to his face. Using his nose and chin, he turned to page 26 and started reading the passage that was entitled _Seekers._

As soon as he finished the passage, the book released its hold on him, but he merely shifted the book into a more comfortable position in his hands and continued reading, trying hard not to think of Nick and Jeff shouting _I told you so!_ in his face.

* * *

><p>Later that night, Kurt was having one of those weird moments where he was suspended somewhere between sleep and consciousness. Usually when that sort of thing happened, he would roll onto his other side and will himself back to sleep. This time, however, as he turned over he caught sight on Blaine pacing back and forth on the trunk at the foot of his bed.<p>

What the hell?

Bleary eyed, Kurt groggily propped himself up on his elbow. He took his eyes off of his pacing roommate to glace over at the little table next to his bed. It was home to three items - a picture of his mother taken a few years before she died, an old alarm clock Burt had given him that used to belong to Kurt's grandfather, and now the library book_,_ _Quidditch Through the Ages_, which Kurt had kept his nose buried in until he had went to bed around ten. It was now a little after two in the morning.

"Blaine?" he called in a whisper so as not to wake anyone else up.

Blaine stopped pacing to look over at Kurt, surprised. "Kurt? Did I wake you up? I'm really sorry if I did."

Kurt shook his head. "I sort of woke up on my own. Why are you pacing on your trunk?"

Blaine looked a bit sheepish. "I can't sleep."

Not knowing what to say to that, Kurt merely said, "Oh."

Blaine stepped down onto the floor. "I'll… just go downstairs and sit for a while," he said, heading towards the dormitory door to do just that.

Without really meaning to, Kurt blurted, "Do you want some company?"

Half way to the door, Blaine stopped to raise his eyebrows at Kurt. "Really?"

Kurt repressed a sigh. In for a penny, right…?

At least Blaine didn't seem too creeped out by Kurt's offer.

"Sure."

Blaine, who must have seen Kurt's hesitation and misinterpreted it, smiled kindly and said, "Thanks, Kurt, but you don't have to do that."

But there was something in Blaine's eyes that suggested that he would have liked the company, so Kurt pulled his covers off and swung his legs over the side of the bed. "Well, actually, I do since I'm kind of awake now."

Blaine grinned. "Sorry," he apologized for the second time.

"Don't be sorry. Just be extra nice to me tomorrow morning when I act like a total bitch."

Ever the perfect gentleman, Blaine held the dormitory door open for Kurt and smiled. "I can do that," he promised.

When they got downstairs, Blaine set to work on building a fire without the use of magic and Kurt settled down on one of the couches and watched him do it. Kurt had never watched anyone build a fire before and while Blaine seemed to know what he was doing, it took a while before Blaine seemed satisfied enough with the fire he had built to join Kurt on the two-seater sofa.

Kurt didn't mind the wait. In a way, it was a calming thing to watch. There was just something about the way Blaine moved while he worked… the way he carefully positioned the logs to rest against each other, and how he took his time placing crumpled up pages from the _Daily Prophet_ in the gaps between the wood just as carefully before ever striking the first match... it made Kurt's entire body feel loose and relaxed.

"Done this before, have you?" Kurt asked once Blaine was settled next to him against the couch cushions. Kurt knew that it wasn't the students responsibility to start fires. That was the house-elves' job. And he doubted that the elves, or anyone else for that matter, would take the time build a fire the old fashioned way when they had other means of doing it in about two seconds. Even muggles had faster and more convenient ways of starting fires. So, Kurt suspected that the matches on the hearth and the stack of old newspapers next to the fireplace itself were for Blaine's particular use.

"Once or twice," he admitted with a grin.

Kurt rose an eyebrow at him as if to say, "Come on."

Blaine laughed. "Alright, so I've started my fair share of fires at two in the morning. I used to go through stacks of my own parchment to use as fire starters before Nick and Jeff told everyone in Ravenclaw to put their old newspapers there for me." Blaine pointed to the box with the stack of newspapers inside. "They can be helpful when they want to be," he said, laughing at Kurt's surprised look.

"You know," Kurt said as he pulled his legs up on the couch and tucked them to one side, "all of this could be avoided if you European wizards just used electricity. Light at the flip of a switch and all that."

Blaine frowned adorably. "Electrissty? You mean that muggle stuff that makes their tellyphones work?"

"Telephones," Kurt corrected, "and yes, electricity powers telephones along with other electronic devices."

"Like your rectangle music thing," Blaine said, looking proud of himself.

Kurt laughed. "My iPod, yes."

"So, wizards in America use that stuff? The elec… elec-tricity stuff?"

Kurt nodded. "Muggle life and wizard life is really integrated in the United States. We don't have separations like Muggle London and Wizard London over there."

Blaine folded his legs into a pretzel shape. "But, then how do you keep muggles from finding out about us?"

"Well, it's illegal to perform magic in front of a muggle, for starters. And even if it wasn't, most muggles will do just about anything to maintain their idea of what's possible and what isn't."

"And the ones that don't?"

Kurt shrugged. "They get labeled as being crazy."

"That's really depressing."

"I guess," Kurt allowed.

They kept on talking about nothing and everything for hours. To Kurt, it felt like they were the only to people left in the world and he loved it. Blaine always had something interesting to say and he really listened to Kurt when he spoke, as if everything that Kurt had to say was really important to him.

It wasn't until the fire had long since died out and the sun had started to come up that Kurt started to feel tired. He fought it for as long as he could, but the velvety smoothness of Blaine's voice eventually lulled Kurt to sleep.

* * *

><p>Blaine cut off mid-sentence when he felt Kurt's head drop onto his shoulder. For a minute all he could do was stare down at Kurt's relaxed face and study his delicate features - his soft, chestnut hair that begged to have Blaine run his fingers through it; his long, dusty eyelashes that stood out so beautifully against his ivory cheeks. Kurt Hummel was probably the most beautiful person Blaine had ever seen. It was what he had thought that first day on the train and it was what he still thought now.<p>

As if Kurt could somehow sense Blaine's thoughts, he smiled prettily and snuggled a bit more into Blaine's shoulder.

No one had ever fallen asleep on him before, but Blaine liked how it felt, he decided. The weight of someone else's body pressed against his felt nice.

Still, Blaine knew that he ought to move Kurt. His shoulder couldn't be a very comfortable thing to use as a pillow, and the angle that Kurt's neck was cricked at to accommodate for their current position would only make Kurt that much stiffer if he stayed that way for very long.

He ought to move him.

But…

He _really_ didn't want to.

And that was the problem, wasn't it?

Blaine should stay away from Kurt, but he really didn't want to.

Every day, Blaine would convince himself that today would finally be the day that he kept his distance, but then Kurt would look at Blaine and just _smile_, and Blaine would think, _one more day couldn't hurt._

Blaine suspected it was because of Kurt's eyes. Kurt had the most expressive, clear blue eyes that Blaine had ever seen, and _everything_ Kurt felt was reflected inside of them. When Kurt was sad, it was heartbreaking, and when he was happy, everything felt just as beautiful as Kurt himself was. Blaine couldn't stay away.

Of course, it didn't help that Kurt was everything Blaine wished he himself could be. Kurt was so strong and brave. Even when it was so obvious that he was hurting or uncomfortable or afraid, somehow Kurt found the strength to face the world with his head held high. The was a fire in Kurt and a deep seated _courage_ that Blaine never wanted to see fade away.

"Kurt," Blaine whispered, reaching out to gently but firmly shake Kurt's shoulder. "Kurt."

Slowly, Kurt opened his eyes and sat up looking a bit disoriented. He blinked a few times as if to dispel the sleep that had gathered in them, before finally turning to look at Blaine. "Oh, god, did I fall asleep on you?" he asked, his voice a little panicked, but still feather light and musical.

And like the coward he was, Blaine thought, _One more day couldn't hurt. _

"Yeah," Blaine smiled, "but it's okay. I didn't mind."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: So we have now seen inside of Blaine Anderson's head. The emotional climate is interesting there, if I may say so. The focus of this story is still mainly on Kurt, but Blaine will commandeer the spotlight from time to time. He does so love the attention, so don't be too mad at him. **

**I'm thinking Quidditch tryouts are up next. And who knows? If Kurt makes the team, maybe even a practice too. **


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: Since we have only seen the one Klaine kiss, we can all safely assume I have not been given ownership rights of **_**Glee**_**. And as far as **_**Harry Potter**_** goes, seeing as how I still only have about five dollars in my bank account, I seriously doubt I own that either.**

**A/N: Ugh! This took me for-freaking-ever! I've been so damn busy it's disgusting. For someone with a fulltime job, I've got waaaay too many hobbies and am in desperate need of an actual life. I've been drawing like a madwoman, writing just as madly, plowing through the Percy Jackson books like nobody's business, and then, as if I wasn't already busy (and poor) enough, **_**Boy Meets World **_**season 6 just HAD to come out on DVD. There simply are not enough hours in the day.**

**But anyway… here we are. Chapter five! There's a whole ten days packed into this chapter! That has to deserve some sort of medal… maybe… a small one perhaps.**

* * *

><p>Kurt had never been so tired in his life, he decided. Even when he had stayed up for almost three days straight waiting for Burt to wake up after his heart attack, Kurt hadn't felt so damn tired. But then, during his father's brief hospital stay, Kurt wouldn't have been able to sleep if he tried. Now, however…<p>

He had only just sat down to breakfast and he could barely keep his eyes open.

Between the couple hours of sleep he had gotten before he woke up to find Blaine pacing on his trunk and the short time Kurt had spent sleeping on Blaine's shoulder (which he was still embarrassed about), Kurt had gotten less than four hours of decent sleep, and he could practically feel the bags under his eyes growing heavier.

"Holy hell, Bopkins, you look like absolute shite," Nick teased as he loaded his plate up with bacon and sausages.

It wasn't the worst insult Kurt had ever heard by any means, but he was sleep deprived and extremely short tempered, and although he had just been thinking the sort of the same thing, Kurt didn't hesitate to whip out his wand and shoot Nick in the face with a swelling jinx.

With a loud yelp, the black haired boy toppled backwards off the bench, clutching at his nose with both hands. He needn't have bothered, however, because his nose had gone from normal to ungodly huge in a matter of seconds, and his hands simply weren't large enough to conceal it.

Jeff howled with laughter, clutching his stomach and pointing at his best friend.

With their eyes trained wearily on Kurt, several students (Wes included) who were sitting nearby stood up to move farther down the table. Kurt didn't pay them any mind.

Instead, he dropped his head in his hands and moaned, "Coffee."

And apparently Blaine Anderson was a man of his word because, true to the promise he had made the night before to be extra nice to Kurt in the morning, Blaine pushed a warm cup into Kurt's hands without comment. Kurt downed the coffee on the spot.

Five minutes and three cups of coffee later, Blaine was watching Kurt with a guilty expression on his handsome face. "I'm really sorry, Kurt. I shouldn't have let you stay up all night with me…"

Kurt glared at the other boy. "'Let' me?" he demanded.

Blaine winced. "Er…no. I meant… I didn't… I…" Blaine snatched up a pot of coffee and refilled Kurt's cup. "Here, have more coffee," he said in a rush.

_Wise choice_, Kurt thought.

Grunting his thanks, Kurt took the steaming cup from Blaine and put it to his lips. Obviously the fatigue was messing with his brain because even the black sludge the house-elves tried to pass off as a decent cup of coffee tasted amazing at the moment, and after only a couple of sips, Kurt instantly felt better. His caffeinated high wouldn't last long - this _was_ his fourth cup, after all, and he was still acting like a queen bitch - but at least he would be able to pass as a civil human being for the next few minutes.

Feeling more and more lucid with each sip, Kurt looked at Blaine, who looked back at Kurt a bit uneasily. "I would say sorry," Kurt told the curly haired boy, "but I _did_ warn you."

Finally, Blaine smiled. "Yes, you did."

From under the table, Nick was wailing at the sight of his reflection. Jeff had given him a mirror so that he could 'see how hideous he was for himself,' and now Nick refused to come out. David was halfway underneath the table as well, trying to coax Nick out ("Your face doesn't look all _that_ bad. And you really can't be under there. The Hogwarts handbook clearly states that all students must sit _properly_ at the table during meal times."), but it didn't look as if David was making any progress because Nick wasn't budging even with Wes waving said handbook under the table in Nick's face.

But Kurt was only half paying attention to all of this because Blaine was still smiling at him in that soft, heart throbbing way of his.

"Thanks for staying up all night with me," Blaine said.

Trying not to think of how hot his face was getting, Kurt smiled shyly back. "You're welcome."

* * *

><p>"Alright," Professor Longbottom said with a happy grin and a clap of his hands, "before we get back to work with the Venomous Tentacula, I just wanted to remind you all that anyone who wishes to sign up for Dumbledore's Army should tell me so by next Friday, the latest."<p>

Nick and Jeff's hands shot instantly and simultaneously (big surprise there) into the air.

Seeming to already know what they were going to say, Professor Longbottom shook his head at the two of them. "Sorry, lads, but it's a 'no' again this year," he apologized, looking like he meant it.

Nick scowled and dropped his hand. "That's not fair, professor," he protested.

Longbottom sighed. "I agree with you, and I tried, but you know how she is."

Nick started grumbling to himself at that, and Kurt was pretty sure he heard the word 'bitch' come out of the other's boy's mouth, which only peaked his curiosity.

"Alright then," Professor Longbottom addressed the entire class, "Starting with Audrey and Ben, _one_ pair at a time go and retrieve your Venomous Tentacula from the storage area. Mind the spikes when you first open the door and be sure to stun them quickly. I don't need anyone getting poisoned. But in the event someone does, I've got plenty of antidote waiting just in case."

The Hufflepuff pair went off to get their plant and Kurt turned to Blaine. "Isn't Dumbledore's Army that Defense club Harry Potter started when he went to school here?" he asked.

Blaine nodded. "That's the one."

Kurt frowned. "Are we preparing for an attack or something?"

"No," Blaine laughed. "It's just a club, really. The name is just tradition."

"So… then why is the Herbology professor telling us about it? Shouldn't that be Professor Sylvester's job?"

Nick gave a vicious snort at the sound the of the Defense Professor's name, and this time Kurt was positive that he heard Nick call her a bitch.

"Something I should know?" Kurt asked.

"Nick and Jeff have been banned from the DA ever since fourth year when they brought their pet shrew to one of the meetings and introduced it to everyone," Blaine explained.

"Aside from the fact that shrews are absolutely hideous to look at, what's so bad about that?" Kurt wondered.

Jeff snickered. "That bad part is that we named her Sue the Shrew. And since Professor Sylvester's name is Sue, everyone decided that it would be the perfect nickname for, too. The entire school loved it. Even the professors."

"Professor Sylvester didn't love it," Blaine said dryly.

Nick snorted. "That's her problem."

"Actually," Blaine countered, "I would say it's yours seeing as how you're the ones who got kicked out of the DA."

Nick started grumbling again.

Kurt shook his head at Nick and Jeff. "You two are really stupid aren't you?"

Jeff shrugged. "It's not our fault the name stuck. It's not like we told people to call her that. We just wanted to give our pet a good name." The blonde grinned devilishly. "It was a total and complete random happenstance that one name had any correlation whatsoever with the other."

"Sure," Kurt rolled his eyes. Jeff laughed and he and Nick stood up to retrieve their plant. "You never answered my other question," Kurt told Blaine once Nick and Jeff were gone. "Why doesn't Professor Sylvester tell us about it since she's the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher?"

"Professor Longbottom is the co-director of the club," Blaine explained to Kurt. "Though everyone knows he's just there to keep Professor Sylvester from hexing the students."

Kurt's eyebrows rose. "You say that like it's happened before."

"Once or twice. When Professor Longbottom wasn't fast enough to prevent it."

Nick and Jeff returned and practically threw their plant onto the table, making several people sitting nearby jump in alarm. Angered by being hurled through the air, the Venomous Tentacula started spitting poisonous spikes in all different directions. Jeff was quick to throw up a shield, but a few students who had been busy working couldn't react fast enough.

With little effort, Kurt flicked his wand and cast _Protego _over them. They smiled gratefully at him.

"Well done, Kurt!" Professor Longbottom grinned. "I think that deserves ten points to Ravenclaw." He frowned at Nick and Jeff. "It's a shame that Kurt's points will be cancelled out when five are taken from each of you for your poor judgment regarding the handling of a potentially dangerous plant."

The two of them smiled sheepishly and shrugged.

Kurt shook his head at them and stood up so he and Blaine could grab their own plant.

"So," Blaine asked on their was to the supply area, "are you going to join the DA?"

Kurt shrugged. "I hadn't really thought about it."

"Well, if you don't mind my saying so, I think you should. You're so good at defensive spells. You make them look so easy."

"I guess," Kurt allowed, though he didn't think that Defense clubs were really his thing. Then again, he hadn't thought that flying or Quidditch would ever be his thing, either, but now he couldn't wait to fly again and he was on the last chapter of _Quidditch Through the Ages._

"You might like it," Blaine suggested.

"Maybe I'll give it a try," Kurt allowed.

* * *

><p>Friday's Potions class was much less eventful than Tuesday's had been. The Slytherin boy - whose name Kurt <em>still<em> didn't know - hadn't paid Kurt or Blaine any attention whatsoever despite Blaine's frequent glares in his direction.

The lack of teenaged drama didn't make the class any more enjoyable, however, because Friday they began preparing the ingredients for their first project. Kurt didn't know what the potion they were making was called. He didn't even know what it was supposed to be used for. What he _did_ know was that the prep work for it required cutting a long fuzzy, wormish centipede-like gray _thing_ into four pieces, which was just… ugh.

The worms had about thirty legs more than Kurt was comfortable with handling, so Blaine was the one who did the cutting. Unfortunately, though, he still had to watch the worms' thick, yellowish-green blood ooze out of its body each time Blaine made a cut.

The entire affair was way beyond vile and the very second the bell signaling the end of class ran, Kurt fled from the dungeons, fairly positive that _nothing_ could be worse than the torture he had just been subjected to, which had been just stupid on his part. But then, how was he supposed to know that Care of Magical Creatures could have been designed after Kurt's own personal hell.

The walk from the dungeons to Hagrid's hut was a long one, and by the time the Ravenclaw boys got there, the Gryffindor kids were already there waiting.

As soon as Rachel and Mercedes saw Kurt they walked over to say hi to him, which meant that Wes ran off to avoid being near Rachel and David went with him. Nick and Jeff wandered off to talk to Brittany and Santana with lecherous grins on their face. Thad and Blaine, however, stayed near Kurt. Blaine could talk to anyone about anything and had no trouble contributing to Kurt and the girls' conversation, but Thad stayed silent.

It wasn't long before Hagrid stepped out of his hut. "Hello, class," the gamekeeper said, beaming at everyone and rubbing his hands excitedly together. "Good ter see yeh all again." Hagrid looked directly at Kurt. "An' you, too. Kurt, was it?"

Kurt smiled and nodded his head, trying not to look too shocked by the sheer size of the man in front of him. Kurt didn't think he was very successful at it, though. Hagrid was huge, after all, and it was only Kurt's second time meeting him.

"Well," Hagrid said to the class. "Jus' wait till yeh see what I've got planned for yeh. Summat real special, it is. So, if yeh all could follow me down this way, we can get started," he said with a big wave of his large hand.

When Hagrid started leading the class towards the Forbidden Forrest, Kurt got a bad feeling. His feeling got infinitely worse when Hagrid stopped at what appeared to be a swamp where the ground was particularly squishy. Up against a nearby tree was a large, lumpy sack. Kurt was pretty sure he would be better off not knowing what was in it.

"Here we are," Hagrid announced, and Kurt wrinkled his nose when the large man traipsed into to smelly, greenish water like it was nothing.

"I don't think I like where this is going," Mercedes muttered from beside Kurt.

Ankle deep in the bog, Hagrid turned when he was in the middle of the swamp to address the class. "Alright, can any of yeh tell me what a Dugbog is?"

Brittany's hand shot up in the air. "Oh, Professor, pick me," she said in a flat voice with a blank expression on her face.

Hagrid called on her.

"Dugbogs are marsh dwelling creatures that live in Europe, North America, and South America. Dugbogs are really confusing and hard to find because they look like driftwood when they aren't moving, except they aren't driftwood because they have teeth and they can bite. Real driftwood can't do either those things because driftwood isn't alive, which is why I shouldn't cry when my pet log doesn't eat the food I put out for her every morning." Brittany turned to whisper to Santana. "Are you sure it's just not because she doesn't like pancakes?"

Santana smiled sweetly at the blonde. "I'm sure, honey. Finish telling us about the Dugbogs."

"Okay. Dugbogs will eat small animals like mice, but their favorite food is Mandrake."

Kurt stared over at Brittany with disbelief on his face, but no one else seemed particularly surprised by either her informative answer or the bit about her pet log.

Hagrid was beaming. "Well done, Brittany! Five points to Gryffindor. Now, class, yeh'll want to take out yer dragon hide gloves and get those on so yeh don' get bit. The Dugbogs were a bit… er… frisky during mating season last year and now there's so many that Professor Longbottom has been havin' a bit o' trouble keeping his Mandrakes alive. So, I thought we'd come out here and help him out by catchin' some o' the critters for relocation."

"_Definitely_ don't like where this is going," Mercedes said, much louder this time.

But Hagrid didn't hear her. "So, jus' grab a pair o' waders and some Mandrake leaves from that sack against that tree there and come on in."

"You've got to be kidding me," Kurt said as he pulled a pair of brown, rubber pants out of the sack. Aside from the fact that they were caked with dried mud, the pants absolutely did _not_ match his outfit.

"Aw, Hummel, they aren't _that_ bad," Puck said from a few feet away. He already had his waders on and was doing squats in them. Slung over his shoulder were a pair of pants.

"…What are those?" Kurt asked slowly, pointing to the pants on Puck's shoulder.

"My pants," he shrugged as if it was no big deal.

"Oh, god." Kurt pinched the bridge of his nose. "Please tell me that's an extra pair and you are _not_ half naked under those waders."

"Who carries around an extra pair of pants all day long?" Puck asked as if Kurt was being stupid on purpose.

David frowned. "Did anybody even see him take them off?"

"I did," Lauren said.

"You know you liked it," Puck told her with a goofy grin on his face and she rolled her eyes.

"I might have if you had been wearing underwear," she said. "But now all I can think of is the fact that your man stick is rubbing up against those nasty rubber pants and it kind of makes me want to vomit."

Mike paused in helping Tina into a pair of her own waders to stare disbelievingly at Puck. "Please tell me she's not serious."

"I don't believe in underwear," Puck shrugged.

"That's nasty, mate," Finn said with a look of disgust on his face.

"What?" Puck asked. "The boys needed a little free time. Hogwarts pants are damn constricting."

Wes looked appalled. "That is unsanitary! Those waders don't belong to you. Other people will eventually use them!"

"Noah, as a school Prefect, I have to agree with the Asian boy," Rachel said, looking as if she'd rather eat the muddy suspenders off of her waders than agree with Wes about anything. "You shouldn't be placing your private areas against school property."

Puck guffawed at that and several people turned to look at Rachel.

"Seriously, Berry? Private areas?" Santana asked. "What are you? Five?"

Mercedes rolled her eyes. "You people have all got problems." She pointed at Puck. "You especially."

"Can't I have _one_ normal day at this school?" Kurt asked no one in particular. "Just one. I don't think that's asking a lot."

Brittany walked over to the group with a wriggling, brown, snake-type thing in her hands. Kurt could only guess that it was a Dugbog. It was biting furiously at her gloved fingers. "Look what I caught with Blaine," she said, looking excited. "We are going to name him Melvin. He's our baby."

Beside her, Blaine was grinning adorably and _cooing_ at the hideous creature. It tried to bite him, too. "Hi, Melvin," he said.

"I give up," Kurt muttered.

* * *

><p>It had seemed like a good idea at first. The whole thing was simple, really. Kurt wanted to fly again. So, of course he had asked Blaine if he would go for a fly, and of course Blaine immediately said that he would love to.<p>

But now that the two of them were on the Quidditch pitch and Kurt had a broom between his legs, he felt incredibly nervous. He had wanted to try flying higher than two feet, but now he wasn't sure he even wanted to leave the ground at all. And the more he told himself that he was being irrational, the more scared he became.

"I don't think I can do this," he finally admitted to Blaine, feeling bad. He had dragged Blaine all the way out here on a Sunday night, when there were probably other, more relaxing things that Blaine could be doing instead of watching Kurt act like a big baby, and Kurt couldn't even muster up the courage to so much as kick off the ground.

But instead of looking annoyed (not that Kurt actually thought Blaine would), Blaine smiled in an encouraging way. "Sure you can. You're just over thinking it." He placed his broom on the ground and extended his hand to Kurt. "Here, hold my hand so you won't fall."

Trying not to get excited that Blaine had just asked to hold hands, Kurt sighed and slid his hand into Blaine's. They had held hands before (Blaine was just like that), but Kurt's stomach still did a little flip at the feel of Blaine's palm pressed against his own.

Blaine, of course, gave absolutely no indication that the touch affected him even slightly, which was both a relief and an annoyance.

"Okay, now kick off."

Kurt tried, but his legs didn't want to cooperate. "Ugh, I don't know what's wrong with me. It's not like I haven't done this before."

"It's okay, Kurt. It's only your second time on a broom. You're just not used to it yet. But I promise I'm not going to let you fall. You can do it."

After telling the small, irrational part of him that wanted to fall just so Blaine could catch him to go straight to hell, Kurt nodded, took a deep breath, and kicked off the ground.

As soon as he was in the air, everything clicked into place. _Of course_ he wasn't going to fall because he was good at this. Being on a broom felt completely natural - like walking - and just like he had after his first kick off, Kurt giggled in wonder and amazement. He looked over at Blaine, wanting to share his excitement, and caught Blaine smiling back, looking just as excited.

"Can we go high?" Kurt asked, and Blaine laughed.

"Of course," Blaine said, releasing Kurt's hand to grab his own broom.

They didn't talk much, just flew. They went as high as the goal posts and did laps around the pitch, Kurt going as fast as he dared.

By the time they touched back down on the ground, Kurt's cheeks stung and his ears hurt a little from the constantly whistling of the wind, but he hardly cared. He couldn't remember ever feeling so relaxed after moving around so much.

"What would you think of me trying out for the Ravenclaw team?" Kurt asked as he and Blaine were walking back to the castle. It was pitch black and probably past curfew, but Blaine was a Prefect so Kurt wasn't worried about it.

Blaine looked surprised at Kurt's question. "Really?"

Kurt shrugged, feeling a little self-conscious. "I was thinking about it."

"Well, if you really want to, you certainly have the physical ability for it. You're an amazing flyer." Blaine grinned and bumped Kurt's shoulder. "And if I wasn't the captain, I might even tell you that based off your flying skills, you would probably make the team if you tried out. But since I am, in fact, the captain I would never say that. It wouldn't be right."

Kurt laughed and rolled his eyes. "Oh, no, of course not. You're much too respectable for that."

"Respectable, adorable, flawless, talented, adorable," Blaine counted off on his fingers.

"Don't forget modest."

"Oh, I would never."

* * *

><p>As the days passed, Kurt grew more and more accustomed to life at Hogwarts. Even with all of the chaos that came with living in Ravenclaw House (whoever thought that placing a bunch of overly brilliant teenagers under one roof would be a good idea was an idiot), he was having the best time he had ever had.<p>

For the first time in his life, he actually had people he could relate to and have fun with. Even Puck was tolerable when he wasn't being completely obnoxious.

And then, of course, there was Blaine.

Blaine was… well, he was _something_. Kurt was trying not to get swept away, but it was difficult sometimes. There was a connection between them that still made Kurt nervous. And sometimes excited, too.

Blaine was the first boy other than Finn to ever be nice to him. Add that to the fact that Blaine ridiculously attractive and also gay, and it was understandable that Kurt had a little bit of a crush. Understandable, but still worrisome. He spent a lot of time wondering whether he was falling for Blaine or the idea of Blaine.

After all, hadn't Kurt promised himself after his disastrous crush on Finn had ended that he wouldn't be stupid enough to fall head over heals for someone just because they didn't want to hex him?

Kurt Hummel learned from his mistakes, thank you very much.

Still, confusion over Blaine aside, Kurt was genuinely happy. He smiled so much now that his cheeks would be hurting by the end of the day.

And then, just when he felt like maybe he could just forget about all of the bad things that had happened to him in the past - that time in his life felt so far away now - one dream brought it all back to the forefront of his mind.

The dream had started off nice. Better than nice, actually.

He was kissing Blaine and it felt amazing. It didn't matter that Kurt had never kissed anyone before in his life because somehow he knew exactly where he was supposed to put his hands and how he was supposed to move his lips. And Blaine's lips were so soft. Like downy. And they were wet, too, but that didn't matter because the wetness felt nice. And just when he was thinking that he could have stayed there kissing Blaine for the rest of forever without ever stopping, Blaine and his perfect, soft lips were suddenly gone, and Kurt had his face pressed hard against the floor.

He was back at McKinley and his knees burned against the cold tile because they had banished his pants. He knew that his boxers were flashing THE QUEER LIKES IT HERE over his ass because that was what they always did when they forced him into this position. His arms were twisted behind his back and held there magically so that his body weight was pressing on his neck.

Everything was exactly like it had been in real life, except that Kurt was sobbing so hard his chest hurt. But that was okay because this was only a dream, and it was perfectly safe to cry in his dreams. Nobody would ever know.

What absolutely wasn't okay, however, was the figure standing over him. Instead of Karofsky or Azimo laughing as they stood over him and admired their handy work, the Slytherin boy from Kurt's Potion class was there instead. And he wasn't laughing. He was just watching Kurt cry with cold, dead eyes. The boy didn't even blink. He just stood there…

"Kurt," someone said.

Just watching…

Kurt's shoulder shook.

"Kurt, wake up!"

The first thing he saw when his eyes flew open was the blue canopy top of his four poster bed, and for a second Kurt had no idea where he was. In a panic, he sat up. Blaine was sitting at the edge of Kurt's bed with a concerned expression on his face and his hand on Kurt's shoulder. And Kurt couldn't help it. His face crumpled as a fresh wave of tears came.

He really didn't know if he was crying because he had been forced to relive his least favorite bullying experience _again_, or because of the way that boy had been looking at him. Because even if it was a dream, it had disturbed the hell out of Kurt.

And then, as if he did it all the time, Blaine wrapped his arms around Kurt and pulled him close. "It's okay," Blaine said gently. "It's okay."

Kurt shook his head, unable to speak. All he could think about was that he did a lot of crying in front of Blaine.

"What did you dream about?" Blaine asked, rubbing Kurt's back.

"Don't want to talk about it," Kurt managed. He couldn't help clinging to Blaine's pajama shirt. He would be embarrassed about it later, but for now, it was just nice to be held.

"Do you want to go downstairs?" Blaine asked after Kurt had calmed down. "I can make us a fire if you want."

"Alright," Kurt said and Blaine took his hand and stood up, forcing Kurt to do the same. He felt a sense of deja vu as he sat on the couch and watched Blaine work. "I'm sorry if I woke you up," he apologized softly.

Blaine paused in his work to smile gently back at Kurt. "You didn't. I was up already."

"Do you have something against sleeping on Wednesday nights?" Kurt asked, hating that he sounded like he was speaking with his nose plugged.

Blaine laughed. "I try to go to sleep, but I just can't."

"And it only happens on Wednesday nights?"

"For the most part." Blaine shrugged. "I dunno why. Middle of the week, I guess."

Well, that was… odd. But, then again, _Blaine_ was odd. He said that his favorite food was heart shaped chocolate, which was just plain strange. At least the middle of the week thing made some sort of logical sense. Maybe. Perhaps Blaine stressed himself out by thinking too much about everything he had left to do before the week was over in addition to thinking about all of the things he had already done, and the end result was weekly insomnia. That was plausible, right?

Neither of them spoke again until Blaine sat down next to Kurt on the couch. "Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?"

Kurt shrugged. He did and he didn't. He still wasn't completely used to or comfortable with sharing his problems with other people. He had kept them bottled up for such a long time that sometimes it just felt easier (and safer) to keep it that way.

Blaine smiled sadly at him. "You know, I used to get bullied every day for being gay."

Kurt couldn't exactly say Blaine's confession surprised him. He had wondered whether Blaine had been bullied. "By that boy in our Potions class?" he guessed.

"His name is Chase Dare." The way Blaine said it suggested that it took some effort to say the other boy's name.

"What did he do to you?" Kurt asked.

Blaine shrugged. "Nothing too extreme. Just teasing, really. Most of it stopped after our third year. He was actually the one who outed me."

Kurt's mouth fell open. _That_ he had not expected.

Blaine laughed a little at the look on Kurt's face, but it sounded wrong. Cynical. "Surprised? I used to have the biggest crush on him. I don't know why, really. We didn't talk very much. I just liked him. And sometimes I thought maybe he…" Blaine trailed off. "Anyway, I told him that I liked him. He laughed at me and spread the news around to anyone who would listen to it."

"I'm so sorry," Kurt said. He couldn't imagine how that must have felt. No one had ever outed him. He hadn't even outed himself. Not really, anyway. Most people always just assumed, and Kurt had never been about denying who was.

Blaine shook his head. "Don't be. I'm okay now. And please don't think I told you that just so you would tell me about your own experiences. I just want you to know that if you ever need someone to talk to, I'll listen and I understand a little about how you feel."

And Kurt wasn't really sure why, but suddenly he wanted to talk about it. And he wanted to talk about it with Blaine. Maybe it was because Kurt truly believed that Blaine meant it when he said that Kurt didn't have to reciprocate in sharing his stories. Maybe it was because of that weird connection between them that made Kurt both restless and relaxed whenever Blaine was near. Whatever the reason, Kurt took a deep breath and said, "If it's okay, I'd like to tell you."

Blaine's eyebrows furrowed. "Of course it's okay, Kurt. But only if you want to, though."

"I do."

He started with explaining his dream, though he left out the part about Chase for Blaine's sake, and of course he said nothing about the kissing part. But after he was finished with the dream, he couldn't stop, and eleven years of frustration pored out of him. Things that he had never shared with anyone before came out with no filter whatsoever… things he had forgotten, things that were better off not remembered. All of it.

"This one girl used to look at me like she really wanted to help," Kurt said. He had his head leaned back against the couch with his eyes trained on the high ceiling. There were so many panels. "One time, she even cried when she saw me. It was right after the time in my dream. When they had me under the _Imobulus _charm. Everyone came out into the hall and saw me like that, and she looked right into my eyes, and she was crying. But she never did anything." He fought back the sting of fresh tears. "I think I hated her more than anyone else."

Blaine scowled at his hands. "So she was sympathetic, but she didn't care enough to help you when you needed it," he said, sounding angry.

Kurt snorted. "Basically."

For the second time that week, Blaine took Kurt's hand. "That won't ever happen to you again, Kurt. I can't promise no one will ever pick on you again, but at least now you've got me and the rest of the Ravenclaw boys. And from what I've seen, the Gryffindor kids seem to really like you, too. None of us would ever just stand by and watch someone hurt you like that."

"Why?" Kurt asked unnecessarily. He wasn't stupid, of course. He knew what Blaine was going to say, but he wanted to hear it. He needed to hear it.

"Because we're your friends."

The tears Kurt had been struggling to hold in fell. "I've never had friends before," he whispered.

Blaine squeezed Kurt's hand. "You do now."

Kurt squeezed back and Blaine wrapped a comforting arm around Kurt's shoulders, and pulled Kurt against him. Sniffling, Kurt dropped his head against Blaine's shoulder.

They stayed that way until the sun came up.

* * *

><p>Thursday Kurt walked around feeling raw and exposed. He didn't necessarily regret sharing his past with Blaine, but he did feel a bit unsure about it the next day.<p>

Maybe that was why he went up to Professor Longbottom and asked if it would be okay go to the first DA meeting and observe just to see if he might be interested in joining the club long-term. The ex-Gryffindor had smiled wide and said it wouldn't be a problem and that the first meeting would be on the second Monday of October if Kurt would like to attend. Kurt said that he would be there and walked away feeling a bit more secure now that he was doing something to protect himself.

It wasn't until Thursday night, however, when he and Blaine were out for their post dinnertime fly, that Kurt _really_ felt better. Maybe it was because he felt so carefree when he was flying. Or maybe it was because he got to be alone with Blaine for the first time since their talk and found out that nothing had changed between them despite what he had shared the night before. Either way, it was a relief to feel less like he was walking on eggshells.

Friday Nick and Jeff cornered Kurt on his way out of the bathroom.

"Dewdrop!" Jeff grinned when Kurt stepped out of the men's room.

Kurt scowled at the two of them and sidestepped Jeff, who made like he was going to grab Kurt and hug him. "Okay, these bathroom meetings cannot become a regular thing with you two."

"Technically," Nick said, "we aren't _in_ the bathroom."

"We're outside of it," Jeff pointed out.

"So, if you're going to title them, you really can't call them Bathroom meetings."

"More like Hallway Directly Outside the Bathroom meetings."

"Or HDOB for short."

Kurt deadpanned at them. "I'm walking away now."

They grabbed his arms. "No, no, GG, we need to talk," Nick said.

"GG?" Jeff asked.

"For Galleon Globes."

"Nice."

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Can I have my arms back?"

"No," they said together.

Jeff looked at Kurt. "We just wanted to make sure that you will still be trying out for the team tomorrow."

"I never said that I was definitely going to," Kurt pointed out.

Nick scoffed. "Rubbish. We saw you with _Quidditch Through the Ages_, you dirty, dirty boy. You couldn't put it down."

Jeff barked out a laugh. "Literally."

"Don't be a wanker, Jeff, he couldn't put it down even after he was physically able to put it down."

Jeff scowled. "Don't call me a wanker, wanker."

"Well, then don't undermine my authority in front of our baby gay. _Wanker_."

"I told you-"

"Ohmigod, shut _up_!" Kurt interrupted. "Or I swear on all things Gaga, I will go and get Thad."

Nick and Jeff jumped away from Kurt like he was on fire. Jeff narrowed his eyes at Kurt. "You wouldn't."

"I would. And I will try out for the team on one condition."

"Name it," Nick ordered.

Kurt folded his arms across his chest. "No more nick names. The two of you will call me Kurt and Kurt only."

"Absolutely not," Nick said.

Jeff shook his head. "Impossible."

Kurt rose an eyebrow. "Then find yourself another Seeker."

The two shared a glance.

"Allow us the use of one nickname per week, and you have a deal."

Kurt tried not to let his surprise show. That was a better deal than what he had thought he was going to get. "…Fine. But _only_ one." Jeff opened his mouth to say something, but Kurt cut him off, "And you've already used your one for this week."

Jeff pouted. Nick, however, was all business. "Alright, fine…" He scrunched up his face. "Kur-r-r-tuh."

Jeff looked at his best friend. "Ew."

Kurt scowled. "I happen to like my name."

Nick looked hard at Jeff. "We'll get used to it," he told Jeff more than he told Kurt.

Jeff looked like he was going to cry.

* * *

><p>Kurt nervously wrung his hands around his broom handle. He felt absolutely sick, and it wasn't because he was scared to kick off from the ground. No, he had gotten over that after that first nighttime fly with Blaine.<p>

"Next up we have Kurt Hummel," Blaine called to the small group of Ravenclaws who were lined up to try out for the team.

Blaine and the rest of the team had already watched everyone who was trying out for the position of Keeper, which meant that only the potential Seekers were left to try out.

Kurt wasn't the first potential Seeker up, but the fourth year girl that had gone before him had been pretty good. He kind of wanted to scratch her eyes out.

Without looking at Blaine and with his stomach in tight knots, Kurt slowly walked out onto the pitch. Thad was waiting in the middle of the pitch with his wand and a tennis ball in hand. Once Kurt was ready, Thad would send the ball flying all over the pitch and it would be Kurt's job to try catch it as quickly as possible.

"I thought you hated Quidditch," Kurt said when he was close enough to the slightly shorter boy.

Thad rolled his eyes. "Jeff wouldn't shut up until I agreed to help out."

"Ah."

"Whenever you're ready, Kurt," Blaine called from the sidelines.

Kurt winced, mounted his broom, and kicked off the ground.

As soon as he was in the air, it struck him how much he _really_ wanted this. Maybe Quidditch and flying weren't as amazing as singing or fashion, but he still wanted to win, and he wanted it badly.

"I'm ready," he called down to Thad.

The tennis ball flew out of Thad's hand and went straight up in the air, passing in front of Kurt's face as it went. Without thinking, Kurt jerked his broom handle up and followed.

Thad was no slouch at charms, and he certainly wasn't going easy on Kurt. The tennis ball zoomed around the pitch with effortless speed, dipping and turning without rhyme or reason. Kurt's entire body was tense and pumping with adrenaline, but he stayed on it, not worrying about how high in the air he was or how fast he was going.

When the ball suddenly dropped towards the earth like a stone, Kurt pushed his broom handle down in a dive and willed his broom to go faster. The ground rushed up to meet him, but he kept his eye on the ball.

At the last second, both Kurt and the ball jerked to the left and leveled out over the ground. Kurt heard several people gasp, but that hardly mattered because the ball was _right there_. He threw his arm out and grabbed it just as it made to break right. A huge grin spread out over his face.

_I did it!_ he thought excitedly, and indulged himself in a very girlish squeal.

"Fuck yeah, Hummel!" Puck yelled from the stands.

"You go, white boy!" Mercedes called.

Kurt flashed them and the rest of the sixth year Gryffindors a grin as he flew by on his was back to the group of potentials and the Ravenclaw team.

Blaine smiled at Kurt and told him he had done a good job before calling the next potential onto the pitch. Nick and Jeff, however, were beside themselves with excitement. Kurt tolerated them for as long as he could, but when Nick went to ruffle Kurt's hair, Kurt threatened to banish Nick's nose altogether this time instead of just making it swell up if Nick dared to touch his hair. Wisely, Nick had dropped his hand back down to his side.

With no more distractions, Kurt redirected his attention towards watching the rest of the potential Seekers try out. He took comfort in the fact that no one else who tried out after him had done as well as that first girl.

After the trials were done, Blaine called everyone to gather around him for the result and Kurt's stomach dropped to his feet. All he heard of Blaine's speech was, "Before I announce who got what, I would just like to-" before this strange whirling noise filled his ears, and he heard absolutely nothing until Blaine called out Kurt's name and congratulated him on getting the position of Seeker.

And then everything was a haze of congratulations, hugs, and claps on the back until Noah Puckerman sauntered over and said, "Fuck, Hummel, after watching you fly like that, if I was gay I totally would have blasted my load for you."

And Kurt figured that Hogwarts had finally started to negatively effect his sanity because he was hard pressed not to laugh.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I debated damn near forever on whether or not I should include Hagrid's class, but the thought of deleting him made me sad, so I just had to keep it. **

**Also, THANK YOU to my reviewers! You guys are awesome. Your reviews make me all giddy inside. I love them all. Even the ones that threaten harm upon my person by way of a gavel beat down, which was just weirdly awesome and hilarious and made me giggle somewhat evilly. **

**And I know Klaine is moving slowly, but I promise there is a reason for it. Right now it's mostly because of Kurt. He's got some trust and confidence issues, both in himself and other people. But I promise that won't last forever.**

**So… Chapter 6… possibly Halloween fun. Definitely a Quidditch practice. More frustrating scenes featuring Kurt and Blaine being difficult when they should just throw caution to the wind and make out with each other. You know. Fun stuff. AND Blaine will steal the spotlight again for a brief moment to have a nice, friendly, extremely tense chat with Chase. **

**As always, please let me know what you think.**

**-Cerez**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: Since we have only seen the one Klaine kiss, we can all safely assume I have not been given ownership rights of **_**Glee**_**. And as far as **_**Harry Potter**_** goes, seeing as how I still only have about five dollars in my bank account, I seriously doubt I own that either.**

**A/N: Hey everyone. So sorry for the long wait. My family and I were recently received some bad news and emotionally, I just haven't been able write worth a damn. The first half of this was written before the bad news and the second part after. I'm not sure how I feel about the end result, but if I keep messing with it I'm going to wind up ruining it. **

**Anyway, sorry again for taking so long, and I hope you enjoy.**

* * *

><p>Kurt was sitting in the common room after dinner one night when Blaine dropped down onto the couch beside him so that he was laying on his back with his legs dangling over the armrest, the top of Blaine's head brushing against Kurt's outer thigh. Pausing in his work - a Transfiguration essay that was due early next week - Kurt looked down and rose an eyebrow at the other boy, but Blaine had his eyes closed.<p>

"I hate Prefect duties," he announced.

"Maybe you should try being less perfect, then," Kurt suggested, smiling.

Blaine snorted. "Funny."

"And they say _I'm _the sarcastic one."

Blaine opened one eye and grinned up at Kurt. "I brought you a present."

"Hmm, is it a new pair of Dr. Martens?"

"Ah… no. Sorry."

"Disappointing."

"Well then," Blaine said in a haughty tone. "If you're not going to appreciate my gift, I just wont give it to you."

When Blaine made to get up, Kurt held him down. "Hey! I want my present."

Blaine turned up his nose at Kurt, which might have been more effective had Blaine not been laying on his back. "No. You were mean to me. I want an apology."

Kurt sighed. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" Blaine pressed. "Be specific."

"For being mean," he said, rolling his eyes. Sometimes, Blaine was completely ridiculous. Cute, but ridiculous.

"Well, alright then." Blaine lifted his hips a bit and stuffed his hand into his right pocket. "Here you go!" he said excitedly as he pulled he his hand back out. He held a Golden Snitch between his thumb and forefinger.

Slowly, Kurt reached out and took the ball from Blaine's hand. "…Blaine. Where did you get this?"

"From the Quidditch supply shed."

"…So my present is a stolen item?"

Blaine winced at Kurt's tone. "Well, I wouldn't say _stolen_."

"Really," Kurt asked. "What would you say then, if not stolen."

"Er… borrowed without permission?"

Kurt snorted. "Which basically means that it was stolen and therefore, I can't keep it."

"Well… okay, yes, that's true. You can't keep it. But, I promise you'll still like it, because it's everything a present should be: fun _and_ practical. Really!" Blaine insisted at Kurt's raised eyebrow. "Watch. Hold your hand out flat with the ball in your palm."

Kurt sighed, but did as Blaine instructed. The ball remained stationary for about five seconds before it spread its wings without warning and shot out of Kurt's hand. Kurt, however, was faster than the snitch and managed to grab it back just before it got far enough away to escape.

"See?" Blaine asked, looking very pleased with himself. "Good for amusement and reflex practice. Not that you really need it, though. Your reflexes are amazing."

Kurt glanced down at Blaine, but his eyes were closed again, his face relaxed. Not wanting to be that creeper that was always leering at his ridiculously attractive gay friend, Kurt looked back at the Snitch in his hand and repeated the release and catch move. It actually _was_ kind of amusing, if he was being honest.

"Are you going to keep me company tonight?" Blaine asked suddenly and Kurt looked down at his friend.

"Don't I always?" Kurt challenged. It was Wednesday.

Blaine's smile was radiant. "You do," he said, looking up at Kurt. "And I always appreciate it."

Kurt shrugged, going for nonchalance as he broke eye contact with Blaine to resume playing with the snitch, but he was sure his blush gave him away. "I know you do."

Blaine sighed in a purely contented way and closed his eyes again. "Hey, Kurt?"

"Hmm?"

"Will you sing to me? Please?"

"Okay," Kurt agreed as he put the snitch down. "What do you want me to sing?"

Blaine shrugged. "I don't care. Everything you sing sounds beautiful."

Kurt's entire face burned with heat at that and he considered himself fortunate that Blaine's eyes were still closed. Not wanting to attract attention to himself by keeping silent, Kurt picked the first song he could think of - "Think of Me" from _Phantom of the Opera_. This time, Kurt wasn't able to help himself and he studied Blaine's face as he sang. He always thought that Blaine's features were unique. Separately, they weren't really the type that defined beauty - thick triangular brows, large eyes, and that curly mess of hair. But combined together, his features somehow made him beautiful - just like Blaine himself.

Kurt seriously doubted that he would ever be attracted to someone with regularly shaped eyebrows again. And he absolutely loved Blaine's hair.

"That feels nice," Blaine murmured once Kurt finished his song.

Horrified, Kurt realized that he had been running his fingers through Blaine's curls. "Oh, god, I'm sorry." He snatched his hand away from Blaine's head like it burned.

Blaine opened his eyes only long enough to reach out and catch Kurt's wrist. "Don't stop. Feels good," he said, guiding Kurt's hand back to his head.

Tentatively, Kurt pushed his pointer finger into the vortex of one of Blaine's curls. Slowly, Kurt pulled his finger outwards, gently stretching the curl to its limit before releasing it and watching with interest as it shot back into it's coiled shape. Blaine pushed his head closer to Kurt's thigh, a happy smile on his face. Emboldened, Kurt threaded all five of his fingers into Blaine's hair, indulging himself in the silkiness of Blaine's dark curls. Blaine released a deep breath and his whole body seemed to relax.

In the month that Kurt had been at Hogwarts, he and Blaine had gotten pretty comfortable in their friendship, and with Blaine being such a physically affectionate person, casual touching was something that came with being friends with him. But as affectionate as Blaine was with, well, everyone, Kurt couldn't help but feel that Blaine was that much more affectionate with Kurt, and that the affection in their friendship was different. It was less platonic and more intimate. They weren't doing anything wrong, of course, but with passing each week, Kurt couldn't help but feel like they grew more and more intimate with each other without actually _being_ intimate with each other, and right now was just a new way that they were pushing the limit. He wasn't sure exactly how he felt about that… but for some reason, he wanted to push more.

Holding his breath, Kurt untangled his fingers from Blaine's hair and ran his forefinger along Blaine's right eyebrow and down his cheek. Kurt heard Blaine's breath hitch just seconds before his eyes flew open and he visibly tensed. His hand shot up to grip Kurt's wrist. His hold wasn't rough. In fact, the touch was so light it was barely even there, but it was as effective as a vice.

Kurt didn't dare speak as they stared at each other. Blaine seemed to be searching for something and Kurt got the very distinct feeling that the second he tried to justify or apologize for his actions, Blaine would pull away.

It seemed to take forever, but Blaine must have found something reassuring in Kurt's eyes because he finally released Kurt's hand and relaxed by allowing his eyes to fall closed once more. Taking this as the okay to keep going, Kurt resumed tracing Blaine's features lightly with his finger. His heart hammered wildly in his chest, and his whole body was tingling, but his hand never shook once as he ghosted over Blaine's cheeks, his forehead, his slightly fluttering, baby soft eyelids, and down the bridge of his nose. When Kurt's finger got to the tip of Blaine's nose, Blaine's lips parted, and Kurt felt warm breath against his hand.

Gathering up every single drop of courage he possessed, Kurt ran two fingers over Blaine's bottom lip. Blaine's eyes flashed open, but this time Kurt didn't still his hand. The texture of Blaine's impossibly smooth lips was absolutely addicting and Kurt knew right then and there that were he _ever_ to kiss Blaine Anderson, it would be the most amazing experience of Kurt's entire life.

"Kurt," Blaine said softly, his lips moving against the pads of Kurt's fingers as he spoke.

And Kurt couldn't help it; he moaned.

It wasn't a loud sound, and it definitely wasn't obscene in any way. It was soft, and quiet, and pleasurable, and _innocent_, but Kurt's hand flew away from Blaine's lips in utter shame.

_Oh my god, what did I just do?_

"I'm so sorry," Kurt whispered in a rush. He absolutely refused to look at Blaine.

"Hey," Blaine said softly and Kurt felt the couch cushions dip under Blaine's weight as he shifted around to sit up. "Kurt, look at me, please."

Kurt… didn't.

Blaine sighed. "Kurt, you did absolutely nothing wrong. You have nothing to be sorry for. I'm the one who should be sorry. I shouldn't have let you do that."

Blaine was only trying to make Kurt feel better. Kurt knew this. But hearing it still hurt like hell.

But of course he couldn't let Blaine know that.

"I don't know why I did that," Kurt admitted.

"It's a normal reaction. You don't have to be ashamed of it. It was just a portrayal of how you were feeling at the time."

Finally, Kurt dared to look in Blaine's direction. "So… you don't think I'm gross… or perverted or something?"

"Of _course _not."

Kurt took a deep breath. "Okay."

Blaine smiled reassuringly and gently bumped Kurt's shoulder. "Hey, why don't I make us a fire?"

"That would be nice," Kurt said truthfully.

Blaine smiled again and patted Kurt's knee as he stood up to make good on his offer.

* * *

><p>"Alright, Anderson, <em>what<em> is going on with you today? You didn't even gel your hair back this morning."

Blaine looked at Wes and sighed as he fell into his regular seat in the Arithmancy classroom. "I don't know," he mumbled as he self-consciously ran a hand through his untamed curls.

Nick grinned. "Well, we do," he said, indicating between himself and Jeff. "You need to indulge in a long wank."

"And while you're at it, invite Kurt to join you," Jeff suggested.

"You can both do it together."

"Or better yet, do it to each other."

Blaine scowled at his friends. "Because _that_ would help me."

Their grins were so wide their lips turned a bit white. It was creepy looking. "See, we think it would."

David glared at the two of them before catching Blaine's eye. "Does this have anything to do with last night? Because Kurt looked quite comfortable sleeping against your shoulder when we came down this morning."

Blaine sighed and dropped his head into his hands. "I don't know what I'm doing," he admitted, hating that it was true. "With Kurt."

What Blaine _did_ know was that he had seriously fucked up last night when he let Kurt touch his face like that. It had been the most intimate experience of Blaine's life, and it had absolutely been a huge mistake. Kurt had been so innocent about it all, getting all flustered and embarrassed over a tiny, barely even audible moan when Blaine had been laying there half aroused and about ready to suck Kurt's fingers into his mouth. It was shameful, really.

"Correct me if I'm wrong," Jeff said, serious for once, "but isn't that the point of being sixteen? You're not required to know anything other then how you feel about him and how he feels about you. That's as complicated as it should be."

Blaine glanced sideways at Jeff. "You know why those rules don't apply to me."

Nick shook his head. "That was two years ago, Blaine. You can't be afraid of yourself forever. Just tell him how you feel."

"I can't," Blaine disagreed.

"Sure you can, Blainy baby. It's easy," Jeff insisted. "Watch," he ordered before turning to Thad, who was reading quietly at his desk. "Thad, I'm hopelessly in love with you. Will you be my boyfriend?"

"No," Thad said without looking up from his book.

"See?" Jeff grinned.

Blaine rolled his eyes. "I _won't_, then," he rephrased himself. "And I'm not hopelessly in love with Kurt."

"_Pfft!_" Wes laughed rather obnoxiously and everyone turned to glare at him. "What?" Wes asked as if he hadn't just showered them all in spit. "Wasn't that a joke?"

Blaine scowled at his friend. "No."

"Ah," Wes said. "Just a flat out lie, then. I get it."

"No, you don't," Blaine insisted, beginning to get annoyed. "None of you do."

David sighed. "We get that you're torturing yourself when you don't have to be. Kurt likes you. He would understand if you just explained it to him."

Blaine scowled at his desk. "I seriously doubt that."

"Well, how do you know if you don't try?" David pressed.

"Look, it doesn't matter if he understands or not. Kurt deserves better."

"You're wrong," Nick insisted, looking frustrated and a little bit angry.

But Blaine didn't think so. Everything about Kurt was absolutely stunning. _Everything_. And Blaine had no place tainting something so beautiful.

* * *

><p>"What is Hogsmeade?" Kurt asked Mercedes and Rachel without preamble as he dropped into the chair between the two of them. Ancient Runes wasn't scheduled to start for another five minutes, which meant that they had about ten to fifteen minutes before Professor Schue showed up and started class. Plenty of time for Kurt to get answers.<p>

"Hogsmeade is a village," Rachel explained and Mercedes rolled her eyes.

"What she means to say is Hogsmeade is a good time. It's like a field trip to an outdoor mall, only we don't have assigned groups and the teachers don't follow us aground like creepy stalkers."

Rachel shot Mercedes a look. "But it _is_ a village, and Kurt asked what it was, not what we do there, or how much fun we have."

"Whatever," Mercedes waved Rachel off as she turned back to Kurt. "Didn't you get a permission slip for the Hogsmeade trips with your Hogwarts letter?"

Kurt shook his head. "No… should I have?"

Rachel thought on that. "Usually only third years get the permission slips because once your guardians have given you permission to go, that permission is valid for the rest of your time at Hogwarts. But you're a transfer, so they might have forgotten you would need one."

"Were you planning on going?" Mercedes wanted to know. "Because if you are, you should go see the headmistress so you can send a permission slip home to your dad. The first visit is on Halloween."

Kurt shrugged. "I don't know. The only reason why I asked about it in the first place is because Sean Paplosky brought it up in Transfiguration."

"Brought it up how?" Rachel asked.

"I guess he asked if I wanted to go."

"You guess?" Rachel asked at the same time Mercedes exclaimed, "Boy, you got asked out on a date and you're only telling us _now_?"

"Is that was he was asking for?" Kurt asked, frowning.

Mercedes and Rachel shared a look. "You're kidding, right?" the former asked.

"No," Kurt said slowly. "When he mentioned it I thought that he was offering me some badly named alcohol or something. It was hard to understand him. He was kind of stuttering, and all he really said was 'so, you, me, Hogsmeade?'"

"Aw," Mercedes cooed. "You must have made him all tongue tied. That's so cute."

"Sean Paplosky is _always_ tongue tied," Rachel insisted.

Mercedes ignored her. "What did you say to him after he asked?"

"That I had no idea what he was talking about."

"And what did he say after that?" she pressed.

"I don't know. I walked away."

Mercedes busted out laughing. "Wait a minute, let me get this straight. Sean asks you out, you say you don't know what he's talking about, and then before he can explain, you just walk away?"

Well, when put like that, of course it sounded completely stupid.

"Boy, you have got to work on your people skills."

Kurt scowled at her. "My people skills are just fine, thank you. And how was I supposed to know he wanted to go out on a date? I've never been asked out before. And besides, I didn't even know he was gay."

"Well, now that you do know," Rachel interjected before Mercedes could respond, "what are you going to say?"

"No," Kurt said immediately. He barely even knew Sean. It was already October, which, granted, wasn't exactly far down the Hogwarts time line in the grand scheme of things, but in the thirty days since Kurt had been here, he and Sean had exchanged less than ten words with one another.

Mercedes looked at Kurt like he was crazy. "Why not? Sean is hot."

Rachel pursed her lips. "While he is certainly no Finn, he does have a certain aesthetic charm."

"I barely know him," Kurt voiced his earlier thoughts.

"So?" Mercedes asked as if Kurt was being difficult on purpose. "That's why you go out with him. To get to know him better."

Maybe. But Kurt had no interest in Sean. The boy's last name was Paplosky, for starters. Kurt Hummel-Paplosky? Just… no. It was best not to start something that could only lead to nothing. And there were other reasons, too. More concrete, deal breaking reasons.

"He's too… tall," Kurt said lamely.

Rachel frowned and titled her head to one side. "Too tall?"

Mercedes was looking at him like he had lost his mind. "Okay, now you're just talking crazy. Finn is 'too tall.' Sean isn't even six foot. What is he, like an inch taller than you?"

"Exactly," Kurt rushed to explain. "One inch too tall. And besides," he said before either of the girls could comment, "who asks someone out for the first time a month in advance? It's the beginning of October and you said the first trip isn't until Halloween."

Mercedes shot Kurt a dry look. "Someone who doesn't want to lose you to a certain short," Mercedes arched her brow at Kurt as she said the word, "curly-headed, Ravenclaw Quidditch captain. Though, apparently he already has."

Kurt scowled. "Sean can't lose me if he never had me to begin with. And Blaine has got nothing to do with this."

"Oh, really?" Mercedes asked. "If that's true then tell me why Mr. Has-Got-Nothing-to-Do-With-This always picks you up after class and the two of you disappear to who knows where until your Herbology class? Or why you stay up with him every Wednesday night just because he 'can't sleep.' Or why you go flying with him after dinner every single night. And did I or did I not see him singing to you at lunch last week? I don't see either of you doing those things with anybody else. Who are you trying to fool? Us or just yourself?"

And thank god Professor Schue chose that moment to grace the class with his enthusiasm and saved Kurt from having to respond. From the start of the lesson to its finish, Kurt sat on the edge of his seat, thoroughly focused on taking notes and determined to ignore Mercedes' frequent glances in his direction. He didn't think he had ever paid so much attention to a teacher before. Every word that came out of Professor Schue's mouth went down on Kurt's paper.

When the bell rang, Kurt had his things shoved back into his bag in record time. He could feel Mercedes' eyes on him as he walked to the door, so he picked up the pace. Blaine was waiting for him in the hallway, of course, and he visibly brightened when he saw Kurt. Normally Kurt might have taken the time to appreciate the light in Blaine's eyes, but right now he needed to get the hell out of there before Mercedes got a chance to catch up with them.

"Hey, Ku-!"

"Come on," Kurt interrupted Blaine's greeting. Without thinking about it, Kurt grabbed Blaine's hand and tugged him towards the first ascending staircase he saw.

"What's the rush?" Blaine asked as they climbed the stairs.

"Mercedes is on one of her rampages and I'd like to avoid having you become part of the wreckage."

"Why would I-"

"I got asked out today apparently," Kurt said, rolling his eyes and pulling Blaine towards yet another staircase. They would have to climb two more to get to the seventh floor.

"Wait, you got… like on a… on a date?" Blaine asked from behind him.

"Apparently," Kurt rolled his eyes again.

"Apparently?" Blaine repeated, sounding lost.

Kurt huffed. "Sean Paplosky asked me to go to Hogsmeade with him. I had absolutely no idea what he was talking about, though. I thought he was offering me some weird alcohol or something."

"Oh," Blaine said softly. Something about his tone made Kurt glance behind him, but Blaine wasn't looking at Kurt. He was frowning at his shoes. "Sean is… Sean's tall…"

The butterflies that were moshing around in Kurt's stomach made speaking difficult so he said nothing.

Blaine studied their clasped hands for a moment before peeking up at Kurt. "Are… Are you going to say yes? _Did_ you say yes?"

"No. I mean, I'm _going_ to say no… I mean," he chuckled nervously, "he's _too_ tall, right?"

_Oh, god, _Kurt moaned in his head. _Why did I say that? That was stupid. Stupid, stupid._

They had finally reached the wall where the Room of Requirement was, but neither made a move to give the door a request.

"You don't like tall guys?" Blaine asked in a careful tone. He was getting that look on his face again. The partially cautious and mostly sad look that he got whenever they started skirting that fine line that between friendship and something more.

Kurt was starting to hate that look. But there really wasn't anything that he could do about it.

"People call me a girl enough as it is. It would be nice to have one of the more masculine traits in the relationship."

Blaine squinted at the ceiling. "So… masculinity can be measured according to one's height? Should I be offended?"

"If you want to be," Kurt said, a bit cheeky.

Within the safe realm of playful banter, that look on Blaine's face vanished, and so did Kurt's butterflies, though there was still some residual bitterness.

Blaine pouted. "I'll have you know that being short makes me precious."

"Precious, Blaine? Really?" Blaine was already precious enough. He didn't need his height contributing towards that fact. Maybe if Blaine was less precious, Kurt could actually say yes when nice guys asked him out on dates.

"Absolutely."

"Ugh. Why am I friends with you?"

Blaine grinned adorably. "Because I'm precious!"

Kurt fought a smile. The bitterness ebbed to practically nonexistent. "Just open the door before I change my mind about spending time with you."

* * *

><p>Kurt may not have wanted to go out with Sean, but that didn't mean he was looking forward to turning him down. He was dreading it, actually, and the fact that he had the whole weekend to stew over it didn't help. He went from wishing it could just hurry up and be Monday already so he could find Sean after Transfiguration and get it over with, to damning the clock each time a new hour began.<p>

He got himself so keyed up about the whole thing that come Monday, when Professor Smith accused Kurt of writing too loudly, of all the ridiculous things ("_Hummel!_ You're quill is too scratchy! It's no wonder that Berk and Grenten are the only two Hufflepuffs not doing well in this class! Sitting so close to you they probably can't hear themselves _think_ over that noise, let alone hear me teach!), Kurt merely rolled his eyes and took out a different quill without comment.

Blaine looked at Kurt like he had never seen him before. "…Are you okay?" he whispered when Smith was no longer looking at them.

Kurt sighed and glanced a few rows ahead at Sean, who was hunched over his paper, taking notes. "I've never turned anyone down before," he said.

Blaine followed Kurt's line of sight. "Oh," he said when his gaze landed on Sean. "…Are you having second thoughts about not wanting to go out with him?" he asked, and Kurt tried not to dwell on the fact that Blaine sounded a bit apprehensive.

"No. I'm just really not looking forward to the look on his face when I tell him."

Neither of them spoke again until class was over and everyone stood up to leave.

Blaine hesitated. "Do you want me to stay?" he offered.

"No, that's okay," Kurt shook his head. "I'll see you after Ancient Runes?"

Blaine nodded. "I'll be there." He managed a half smile. "Good luck."

Kurt wasn't sure luck was the appropriate offering for this type of situation, but he didn't dwell on it. Instead, he took a deep breath and slowly walked over to Sean, who was busy putting away all of his stuff. He jumped when Kurt tapped him on the arm.

"K-Kurt!" His cheeks turned pink. "Uh… hi," he said shyly.

Kurt winced. "Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you or anything."

"Oh… That's okay. Did… did you need something?"

It was now or never…

"I just wanted to apologize. About Thursday? No one has ever asked me out before, so… I don't know, I was an idiot."

Sean's eyes got wide. "Oh, no… It wasn't you… I could have… but I didn't… not very well." Kurt hadn't thought it was possible, but Sean got even redder.

Oh, god this was going to be hard. Sean was really sweet - almost painfully so with his cute little stammer and red cheeks. But sweet had nothing on precious. Stupid Blaine.

"No." Kurt shook his head. "You did fine…" he had to consciously refrain from using the word _sweetie. _"It's just that I had never heard of Hogsmeade before, and I had no idea what you were talking about. But I should have given you more time to explain. I'm sorry about that."

_Stop stalling!_ he berated himself. _Just do it!_

Kurt took a deep breath. Why did Sean have to look so hopeful? "But, I'm really not looking to date anyone right now."

There. He said it.

Sean's face fell. "O-oh…" He looked absolutely crushed.

"It's not you," Kurt rushed to explain. "It's just that I'm not…" He trailed off. There was probably nothing in the world he could say that would make this better. "I'm really sorry."

"It's o-okay," Sean said, which only made it worse. Why couldn't he be angry or something? Kurt could deal with anger. "Is… is it because of… Blaine?"

Well, fuck.

_Why _did _everyone_ have to immediately assume that Kurt was hung up on Blaine? He was tired of it.

Instantly annoyed, Kurt opened his mouth to say _no_, but he made the mistake of looking into Sean's eyes first, and found himself whispering, "Yes," in probably the most broken voice he had ever heard himself use. It made him want to bash Blaine Anderson over the head with something heavy. Like the thirty gallon cauldron in Professor Slughorn's classroom maybe. At least to start with.

Sean nodded. "I… kind of figured that. You know, before I asked you out."

"I'm sorry," Kurt said pathetically. He didn't know if he was apologizing for liking Blaine or for not being able to like Sean.

Sean nodded again, looking down at his feet. "If… if it helps… I think he likes you, too."

"You think so?" Kurt asked before he realized that he probably shouldn't.

Sean winced at the hopeful tone in Kurt's voice, but said, "Yeah. Yeah, I really do."

* * *

><p>Over the next couple weeks, Kurt thought about his conversation with Sean a lot, which wasn't exactly a good thing seeing as how the more he thought about it, the more annoyed he got. He was slowly starting to realize that practically <em>everyone<em> at Hogwarts thought that Blaine Anderson and Kurt Hummel were either dating or madly in love with one another. It made him want to punch something.

Because they _weren't_ dating and Kurt was beginning to wonder why. They got along well, they liked a lot of the same things, they were both gay (for _once_ Kurt wasn't crushing on a straight guy), they were _always_ together. And it couldn't be that Blaine wasn't attracted to him because on a couple of occasions Kurt had caught the other boy staring at his ass.

And then Kurt would remind himself that he already knew why. It was because of those quiet moments, when it was just Kurt and Blaine, and for no reason at all, they would both suddenly look up at the same time and their gazes would lock. And Blaine would just _look_ at Kurt as if he was the only somebody in the world that Blaine wanted to see. And Kurt's breath would hitch, and hope would rear its cruel head as Kurt dared to believe that maybe, just maybe, Blaine felt the same. That maybe Blaine liked Kurt just as much as Kurt liked Blaine.

But at the very last second, just before hope got the chance to turn into something more definite, that sad, _stupid_ look would pass over Blaine's face as he would hastily retreat behind the obvious shadows in his eyes. And Kurt, trying to hold onto that special moment for just a little bit longer, would silently plead with Blaine not to reject his feelings by maintaining eye contact instead of looking away. But, of course, Blaine would drop his gaze and every time, _every single time_, Kurt would feel like he had just gotten slapped. And for hours he would sit quiet and withdrawn, wondering just what it was about having feelings for Kurt that Blaine found so horrible.

It was all so taxing and frustrating and Kurt felt like he was being constantly pulled in two different directions. On the one hand, he wanted to give Blaine his space. He didn't want to rush Blaine into something that he so obviously wasn't ready for, or worse, didn't want. On the other, however, Kurt was starting to feel extremely lonely. Even when he was with Blaine, he felt like he was alone. Because ever since he had told Blaine about Sean, those quiet moments, and the inevitable rejection they always lead up to, had been happening with more and more frequency. They couldn't be alone for five minutes without it happening.

So they had started to avoid spending time alone together, except for Wednesday nights when The Look would happen about eight million different times and Kurt's heart would be left bruised and raw for the entirety of Thursday.

And today, in Kurt's opinion, was an especially bad day. Besides that fact that it was Thursday, today was also the day of Kurt's second Quidditch practice, and Quidditch practice had turned out to be a lot different from what he had expected. Aside from the flying warm-ups and practice maneuvers they did at the beginning of practice, they didn't actually practice as a _team_. Or, more specifically, _Kurt_ didn't practice with the team.

To be fair, there really wasn't a need for him to. Aside from dodging Bludgers, Seekers didn't contribute to the actual game play. In fact, Kurt's responsibility was to _avoid_ getting directly involved with the game play as much as he possibly could as he searched for the Golden Snitch. The more a Seeker made himself invisible to the other players, the better his chances were of ending the game quickly for his team.

So, from a rational standpoint, it only made sense that while everyone else on the team flew around the pitch together, Kurt was off to the side practicing dives and maneuvers specifically designed for a Seeker's particular use.

But Kurt didn't _want_ to be rational. What he wanted was to be pissed at Blaine for sticking Kurt by himself while he flew around with Jenna and Rick (the other two Chasers) and tried to score on Daniel as Jeff and Nick did their best to hit them with practice Bludgers, which were much softer than the ones used in the actual game. But Kurt couldn't exactly come out and say that without sounding like a spoiled brat, so Kurt kept his mouth shut and practiced his maneuvers with a determined scowl on his face.

He was so focused on his task that he didn't notice that everyone else on the team had retreated to the locker room until Blaine was calling up to him from the ground that practice was over.

Without so much as a glance in Blaine's direction, Kurt sped towards the ground. Feeling particularly reckless, instead of leveling out over the ground, he simply jumped off the broom once he got to a close enough distance away from the ground to be sure that he wouldn't get injured by doing so. It would have been rather embarrassing if he had misjudged the move and landed on his ass, but thankfully Kurt landed neatly on his feet with his broom held tightly in his hand.

"Wow," Blaine said. "That was impressive."

"Thanks," Kurt snapped in a tone perhaps a little too rough, but he was angry so he didn't apologize for it when Blaine's eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"…Kurt? Are you okay?"

"Just fine," Kurt said through his teeth.

But Blaine wouldn't drop it. "Hey… if there's something wrong you know you can talk to me, right?"

Kurt snorted. "Can I?" he challenged.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You tell me."

Blaine sighed. "Okay, obviously you're upset with me about something."

Kurt hated how calm and reasonable Blaine sounded. As if he was humoring an irate child throwing a temper tantrum. And maybe Kurt _was_ acting like that, and he would probably be embarrassed later, but right now he was too angry to care.

"Oh, come on, Blaine. Do you think I like practicing all by myself while everyone else is having fun _together_? This is my second practice and I don't feel like I'm a part of this team _at all_."

On some level, Kurt knew that this wasn't about the Quidditch practice, not really. But he didn't really know how to bring up what was really bothering him (especially since despite how angry he was, Kurt still didn't want to pressure Blaine into anything) so getting angry over Quidditch would just have to do.

"I didn't realize you felt-"

"How did you not realize?" Kurt demanded, incredulous. "Who would want to watch their teammates practice and have fun together while they have to practice all alone on the sidelines?" He huffed in sheer annoyance. "But, you know, it isn't even about that. It's about the fact that I _can't_ talk to you about it because for weeks we've been avoiding each other! Why is that, Blaine!"

So much for no pressure. Or was Quidditch still tied in there somewhere? Kurt didn't know anymore. And he didn't really care.

"Kurt, I'm-"

But Kurt didn't want to hear that Blaine was sorry. He didn't want Blaine to avoid the subject. He wanted an explanation, but he knew, just by the look on Blaine's face - that damn look - that he wasn't going to get one. "Whatever, Blaine. It doesn't matter."

And with that, Kurt stormed off towards the locker room.

* * *

><p>"Damn it," Blaine cursed as he watched Kurt walk away, his hand fisted so tightly around his broom handle that it was stark white, and that was saying something because Kurt pale enough without help.<p>

Nothing was going the way it should, and it was really all Blaine's fault. He was absolute crap at just being Kurt's friend. He couldn't so much as glance at Kurt without his heart leaping into his eyes for the world to see.

And Kurt wasn't stupid. He definitely noticed.

Blaine had thought that maybe spending less time alone would help, but it only made things worse.

If he wanted to be unfair, he would blame Sean Paplosky. Sean had stepped in and made Blaine's life a living hell. But then, Blaine never should have been stupid enough to assume that while he walked around with his head up his ass, no one else would take notice of how amazing Kurt was. Blaine drove himself mental wondering how long would it be before someone came around that Kurt would actually to say yes to.

"Well, that was interesting to watch."

Blaine instantly tensed at the familiar voice. "Sod off," he said, turning to glare at the boy who was leaned up against one of the many towers that marked the edge of the field.

Chase smirked. "I'd rather not." He gestured in the direction Kurt had just stormed off in with his chin. "He's cute, you know."

"Leave him alone, Chase," Blaine said, his tone way past furious when, in actuality, he was absolutely terrified. If Chase did to Kurt what he had done to Blaine…

But the Slytherin merely laughed, amusement shining in his eyes. "You say that like I might hurt him. But we both know that you are more likely to do that than I am, _Blaine._"

Blaine's stomach twisted. "I'm leaving," he said, but Chase's next words stopped him.

"Does he know about you yet?"

It was a funny feeling to be so full of rage that you're terrified of what you might do, but then, Blaine was pretty familiar with that feeling. "_Don't_," he warned, his own voice foreign to his ears. Blackness started creeping in from the corners of his vision.

But Chase didn't look scared. He looked excited. "Well, now, I had better be more careful. Wouldn't want to make you angry," he said, though it was quite clear from his tone that he wanted that very much. "We all know what happens when Blaine Anderson gets angry. But _he_ doesn't, does he. That could be dangerous for him, don't you think?"

And just like that, Blaine's anger was completely gone, and the only thing left was exhaustion. "Why are you doing this?"

Chase's expression turned cold as he strode over to Blaine and got in his personal space. Blaine didn't try to stop him, not even when Chase dropped his head to press his cheek against Blaine's. "Because I hate you," he said, and his lips brushed against Blaine's neck when he spoke.

"Good," Blaine said. "Because I hate you just as much."

Chase's body shot away from Blaine's as if it burned. "Fuck you, Anderson," he spat, and Blaine laughed harshly.

This was a familiar game they played. It was also one that Blaine was tired of playing. He walked away from Chase with the feel of the other boy's eyes on his back.

* * *

><p><strong>So there it is. Like I said, I feel a little iffy about this one, so let me know what you thought. Questions, comments, concerns, constructive criticism, whichever :)<strong>

**As always, thank you so, so much to those who have reviewed. Your reviews really give me a lot of incentive to keep going. **

**I'm thinking that for the next chapter, Kurt and Blaine need to have a little talk. Whether or not their talk resolves anything I have still yet to decide. And I'm still debating on whether or not I should include Halloween. We will see some of November too, so expect a Quidditch game sometime within the next two chapters. **


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: Since we have only seen the one Klaine kiss, we can all safely assume I have not been given ownership rights of **_**Glee**_**. And as far as **_**Harry Potter**_** goes, seeing as how I still only have about five dollars in my bank account, I seriously doubt I own that either.**

**A/N: This chapter starts the day after the last one ended. **

****For some reason this chapter got deleted, so I'm re-posting it. I'm really sorry for the confusion! Hopefully it wont happen again because if it does I have no clue how I'm supposed to fix it...**

* * *

><p>The next day Blaine seemed to be avoiding him and that hurt. Kurt tried to tell himself that maybe Blaine was just giving Kurt his space, but he didn't feel very optimistic about it. Breakfast had been so tense that Kurt had only sat at the table for ten minutes before he stood up with a glare in Blaine's direction and stomped over to the Gryffindor table to sit with Finn. He would have sat with Mercedes and Rachel but Mercedes was still on her confess-your-love-for-Blaine kick and the only thing Kurt wanted to confess about Blaine at present was that he was an idiot.<p>

Blaine spent the rest of breakfast looking at Kurt with a pained expression on his face, which made Kurt especially irritated. If Blaine wanted to talk to Kurt then why the hell didn't he?

Potions was worse than breakfast. This was partly because Blaine and Kurt were partners, and Kurt didn't have the luxury of moving to another table. Mostly, though, it was because of Chase, who kept sneering at Blaine and whispering 'Did you tell him yet?' while grinning in Kurt's direction. The first time he did it, Blaine turned absolutely white and Kurt thought for a minute that he might throw up.

Kurt might be mad at Blaine, but that didn't mean he liked seeing him in pain. He looked so ashamed of himself that it broke Kurt's heart. So the second time Chase did it, Kurt pulled out his wand and _Reducto_ed his stool to kingdom come. The stool exploded into about a million pieces and Chase fell flat on his ass.

Everyone except Chase, Kurt, and Blaine started laughing. Slughorn, as usual, was in his own world. At the beginning of class he had announced that he had gotten a letter from Luna Scrim-something-or-other, who Kurt figured must be someone important because the Potions Master must have read the letter about fifty times in the past thirty minutes. He hadn't so much as twitched his mustache at the disturbance Kurt's spell created. But that wasn't really important at the moment.

To Kurt's extreme discomfort, Chase didn't look mad. Instead he stared up at Kurt with a pleased look on his face that struck Kurt as seriously disturbing. It made him feel like a dog who had just preformed a new trick for his master. It made his skin crawl.

"Stop looking at me like that," Kurt ordered, scowling down at Chase's smug face. "I don't like it. And leave Blaine alone."

Blaine looked at Kurt with a shocked expression on his face, as if he couldn't understand why Kurt would come to his defense.

"Just because I'm mad at you doesn't mean you're not my best friend anymore, Blaine," Kurt sighed. He really didn't understand why he should have to explain that.

If Blaine had looked shocked before then he was absolutely flabbergasted now. "You think I'm your best friend?" he asked carefully.

"Is there a reason I shouldn't?" Kurt challenged.

"I…" Blaine began, but faltered. He had that ashamed look on his face again. "It would be better if you didn't," he said, looking at the table instead of Kurt.

"I see," Kurt said tightly. And thank god the bell chose that moment to ring, because Kurt really needed to get away from Blaine before he strangled him. Or worse, burst into tears.

Chase was waiting for him in the hall just outside the door and Kurt damn near pivoted right then and there to march straight back in the classroom. The last thing Kurt wanted to deal with was Chase and his creepiness, but the Slytherin didn't give him much choice and Kurt had never been in the habit of avoiding his problems. So when Chase walked straight up to Kurt, he held his ground and kept his chin up. With an odd look on his face that Kurt couldn't place, Chase said, "You're the one who should leave Blaine alone."

Normally Kurt would have responded with something along the lines of "Are you threatening me?" but he just couldn't muster up the energy to care, so he merely pushed past Chase with a simple, "Whatever."

Kurt walked down to Hargid's hut for Care of Magical Creatures alone. His head was hurting and he really, _really_ wasn't looking forward to traipsing around in the muck searching for Dugbogs, but he liked the idea of spending the hour moping around in the dormitory even less, so he went anyway.

As he walked he mulled his current predicament over in his head, wondering how it was possible that things could get so bad so quickly. Two days ago everything had been fine, a little tense, maybe, but fine, and now Blaine was telling him that it would essentially be better for Kurt if they weren't friends. What the hell did that even mean anyway?

Maybe he had been wrong about The Look. Maybe it wasn't desire on Blaine's face after all. Maybe he just saw that Kurt obviously had a crush on him and it freaked him out.

But if that were true then why had Blaine let Kurt touch his face that night? That definitely wasn't something that you let someone who you thought of as 'just a friend' do. At least, Kurt didn't think so. It was hard to tell with Blaine.

He groaned in frustration.

What if he had misread his and Blaine's entire relationship and made everything up in his head? The thought was too depressing.

Kurt screamed when an arm suddenly dropped around his shoulders. From beside him, Nick started cracking up. But it was Jeff's arm that had startled him so Kurt glared at the blonde first. "What the _hell_ is wrong with you! You scared me to death!"

Jeff gasped in delight. "Oh, Merlin, I made a ghost!"

Kurt snorted. "Idiot." He pushed Jeff's arm off his shoulders. "What do you two want?"

Nick replaced Jeff's arm with his own. It was a little awkward because Kurt was taller. "Aw, Kurtle-pop, we just wanted to see if you were okay. You didn't look so happy in Potions."

Kurt glowered. "Okay, I _know_ I didn't just hear you call me Kurtle-pop."

"Sure did, Kurtle-pop." Jeff grinned.

"Aside from it being the most ridiculous thing I have _ever_ heard, you called me that yesterday. I distinctly remember that we agreed only one nickname per week."

"LOOPHOLE!" they both shouted to the sky as if they had rehearsed it and Kurt jumped in alarm for the second time. They were going to give him heart problems, he just knew it.

Throwing their arms up in the air, they danced around Kurt as if he were part of some cracked out ritual. "LOOPHOLE, LOOPHOLE, LOOPHOLE!" As they went, they kicked their knees up high up in the air, as if they were trying to touch their chests with them.

"STOP!" Kurt shouted, his voice shooting up about twelve octaves. Both of them froze in front of Kurt. "What is _wrong_ with you!" he demanded.

"Loophole," Jeff said happily, as if that explained everything.

"What are you talking about?" Kurt demanded.

"You said we were allowed one nickname per week," Nick explained.

Jeff nodded sagely. "You never said anything about how often we were allowed to use it."

Kurt sputtered. "You… I… _no!_"

"We broke him," Jeff said miserably.

Nick shook his head in sorrow. "Again."

Kurt pressed his lips together in a thin line and tried to remind himself that these were his _friends_ and that for reasons he couldn't recall at the moment, he actually_ did_ like them.

Jeff leaned towards Nick. "Kurt Gone Mental red?" he asked, pointing to Kurt's face.

"Oh, definitely."

"Ugh!" Kurt shouted before plowing through the barrier the two of them made.

Of course they just ran in back in front of him. "Aw, don't be mad at us, Kurtle-pop."

"Move," Kurt said through his teeth.

Nick shook his head. "We want to know what's going on with you and Blaine."

"Nothing is going on with me and Blaine," Kurt snapped. That was the problem. "Now _move_."

"Did he do something stupid?" Nick pressed.

The very last thing Kurt wanted to do was talk about Blaine. He want to be left alone, so he did something he probably shouldn't have. "Yes! He did! Are you satisfied now?" he exclaimed. And of course - of freaking course - Blaine just _had_ to be standing right behind him when he said it. Thad, Wes, and David were there, too. "Great," Kurt muttered.

But Blaine didn't look upset about it. "Leave Kurt alone, you two," he said to Jeff and Nick, sounding tired and put out. As if protecting Kurt was his god given burden.

It irritated Kurt to no end. "I don't need you to stick up for me, Blaine. That's what _friends_ do, and according to you, we aren't."

Blaine flinched, looking hurt, but Kurt figured that wasn't his problem. Blaine was the one who had said it first. Kurt was only reiterating his words.

Kurt had planned on punctuating his statement with a dramatic exit but all thoughts of storming off flew out of his mind when Kurt looked at Jeff and Nick and was shocked to find them both glaring angrily at Blaine. In fact, _all_ of the boys were glaring at Blaine. Except for maybe Thad, whose expression was mostly passive.

Nick grabbed Kurt's arm. "C'mon, Kurt," he said. Kurt was too shocked to argue and he let himself get pulled away. The rest of the boys went with them. Blaine was left alone staring at his shoes.

"What are you guys doing?" Kurt asked, looking back at Blaine standing by himself.

"Walking you to class," Nick said in a tight voice. Kurt didn't understand why he sounded so angry.

"Why? You're _Blaine's_ friends," he reminded them. "You've known him for years."

Nick snorted.

"You're just as much our friend as Blaine is, Kurt," David said calmly, the way he did when he was explaining one of the school rules.

"You're one of us now," Wes confirmed.

Kurt didn't understand. "But Blaine-"

"Needs to get his head out of his ass," Nick said. "End of story."

Kurt didn't know how to argue with that, so he kept his mouth shut.

* * *

><p>Blaine looked pretty miserable as they all waded in swamp water searching for Dugbogs. Brittany stayed by his side, a sad, confused look on her face. She had looked that way ever since the start of class when Blaine told her that he didn't want to see Milton that day. Hagrid looked like he was going to cry over the fact that his two most eager students were so glum.<p>

But Kurt had his own problems and he was pretty miserable himself. By some sick turn of events, he had gotten paired up with Santana Lopez, who looked about as excited as Kurt _wasn't_ to have him for a partner.

"Merlin, Hummel, you look like somebody died," Santana sneered. "Oh, and by the way, you're hair went flat."

Kurt scowled at her, not in the mood. "Yes, well, looking at you makes me feel like somebody died, so you'll have to get over it. And Kurt Elizabeth Hummel's hair does _not_ go flat."

Santana rolled her eyes. "Yeah, whatever." She poked at the muck with a stick. "Elizabeth is a girl's name."

"Really?" Kurt asked dryly. "I hadn't known, but, yeah, thanks for clearing that up." Something wriggled under his foot. It was probably a Dugbog but he had no interest in catching them anyway so he didn't try to confirm it.

"So is there a story there, or are you just _that_ gay that no one could tell whether you born a boy or a girl?"

"It was my mother's name, if you must know," Kurt said in a snappish voice. "She died, I didn't have a middle name, so I took hers." Santana was quiet for a moment and when Kurt looked up, he was surprised to see a sad look on her face. "Ugh, don't tell me you're going to get all let's-feel-sorry-for-the-boy-with-the-dead-mommy on me now, because I have had a shit day and I do _not_ need you sniveling all over me."

Santana glared at him. "Don't worry, Hummel, I still have a strong urge to scratch your eyes out and maybe steal some of your clothes." He features softened again. "It's just… that really sucks about your mom."

Kurt's eyebrows rose at Santana's kind tone. "Uh… yeah, it does…"

"Oh, don't look at me like that," she scoffed at the look on Kurt's face.

"Like what?" he prompted.

"Like we just had some sort of _moment_," she rolled her eyes. "I still can't stand you."

Kurt fought the urge to smile. "Of course. I can't stand you, either."

"Make sure you keep it that way." She poked around some more with her stick, not meeting Kurt's eyes. "So, what's going on with you and Anderson? Not that I care, mind you. It's just that he looks even worse then you do and it's upsetting Brittany."

For some reason, it didn't annoy him all that much when Santana asked about his situation with Blaine. "I guess I want something that he can't give me," he admitted after a pause.

"So take what you can get and stop whining about it," she said as if it were simple. Kurt didn't miss how she was staring at Brittany when she said it. "Something is always better than nothing."

* * *

><p>Kurt sat with Finn again at lunch because he needed to think. He couldn't get what Santana had told him out of his head. He wondered if it could really be as simple as she said. In a weird way, her advice seemed plausible, but he wasn't sure if it was very healthy. Kurt hadn't known Santana for very long, but it was pretty obvious that she was hung up on Brittany and it was killing her. He didn't want to become that cold and bitter person Santana was by torturing himself with a friendship with Blaine when he wanted more.<p>

And what if Blaine started seeing someone like Brittany was seeing Artie? Kurt wasn't sure he could handle that.

Someone tapped on his shoulder and Kurt turned, surprised to find Brittany standing there with the familiar blank expression on her face. "Can I talk to you?" she asked.

Kurt looked over at Finn for an explanation, though why he expected his brother to be able to give him answers, he really didn't know. It was Finn, after all. And he certainly didn't disappoint. He was too looking at Brittany's boobs to pay any attention to Kurt.

Puck, however, was surprisingly more helpful. "Uh, Britt, you do remember that Kurt's gay, right?"

"Of course," she said, smiling sweetly.

Kurt sighed. "Okay," he agreed and got up from the bench. He followed Brittany out of the Great Hall, weary of Santana's hawk like stare. As soon as they were in the hall, Brittany turned to face him. "Before you say anything," Kurt said, "I'm not making out with you."

She nodded slowly. "That's okay. I don't want to snog you anymore. It would hurt Blaine's feelings."

Kurt snorted, but didn't try to correct her. "So, what did you want to talk to me about?"

"Blaine," she said.

Perfect.

"Brittany, I don't want-"

"He's sad," she interrupted. "And I don't like that because Blaine is my favorite pixie and I love him."

Kurt sighed. "I know he's sad, Brittany, but I can't do anything about that."

"Yes, you can," she insisted. "Tell him how you feel about him."

Kurt shook his head. "It's not that simple. Blaine doesn't feel the same way."

"Kurt," Brittany said, and for a moment the vacancy was gone from her eyes. "Blaine looks at you the way that Santana looks at me."

Kurt didn't know what to say. That was happening a lot today.

Brittany offered him a small smile. "Tell him," she said again before walking back into the Great Hall, leaving Kurt alone with his thoughts.

* * *

><p>Kurt cornered Blaine on his way out of the Great Hall. "We need to talk," he said. "Now."<p>

Blaine nervously shifted from one foot to the other. "But what about Charms?" he asked.

"We're skipping it," Kurt informed him in a tone that hopefully left no room for argument.

"…Okay," Blaine agreed. "Where do you want to…?"

"Room of Requirement."

Blaine winced when he heard the location and Kurt was pretty sure he knew why. Neither of them had been there for a while.

The walk up to the seventh floor was completely silent. Blaine spent most of if studying his shoes as they walked, but from the corner of his eye, Kurt would see Blaine peek up at him every so often. When they got to the correct wall, Kurt walked back and forth three times thinking to himself, _I need a place to talk to Blaine, I need a place to talk to Blaine. _

The room they found behind the door wasn't very welcoming. Instead of their usual two-seater sofa on top of a tick rug, there was only a medium sized square table and two chairs on opposite sides. There was no fireplace.

At the sight of the room Kurt created, Blaine looked like he wanted to turn around and never come back, but Kurt merely sighed and claimed one of the chairs. Once he was sitting he rose his eyebrows at Blaine as if to impatiently say 'well?'

He might have been more sympathetic, but it wasn't as if he had arranged the room like this on purpose. He merely told it what he planed on using it for. Kurt had never actually been the one to open the room before. It made him wonder what Blaine would ask for when they used to come here.

At Kurt's look, Blaine hesitated for a moment but eventually walked over and stiffly lowered himself into the chair opposite Kurt.

With just the two of them in the big room, the silence was like a weight pressing on Kurt's back. Brittany's advice was pressing on him, too, but he didn't think he wanted to volunteer his feelings up to Blaine just yet so he asked, "If I ask you something, will you be honest with me?"

Blaine kept his eyes on the table. "… I don't know."

Kurt nodded. At the very least, Blaine's answer had been honest. Kurt could deal with that. "Well, how about I just ask you and you try your best?"

A weary look passed over Blaine's face. "…Okay."

"Are you in love with Chase?"

Blaine looked up so quickly that Kurt wondered if it made him dizzy. He looked utterly shocked and Kurt had to admit that he was pretty shocked himself. He hadn't meant to ask that at all. He had meant to ask why Blaine thought it would be better if they weren't friends. But now that the question was out there, he realized that he was really curious to know.

"Why… why would you ask me that?" Blaine asked in a breathless tone.

Kurt squirmed a bit. "I don't know. It kind of just slipped out, to be honest. But I would kind of like to know."

Blaine scowled at his hands, and for a minute, Kurt thought he might refuse to answer. But then, still scowling, he said, "No."

"Were you?" Kurt asked almost as soon as the word left Blaine's lips.

"Kurt…" Blaine said, sounding tired. But something about the way he said it made it sound like a warning, too.

"Look, I'm only asking because of what he said in class today before I blew up his stool. I just want to make sure that you two aren't secret boyfriends or something."

Kurt wondered where the hell all of this was coming from. It was like his mouth and his brain had tag teamed and decided that one would think up random thoughts and the other would spit them out before Kurt had the chance to process what he was saying. But just like with his question about Chase, now that he had mentioned it, Kurt realized that it must have been bothering him on some level or else he wouldn't have asked.

Was that why Chase had told Kurt to leave Blaine alone? Because they were dating? Was that the secret Chase had been referring to?

When Kurt thought about it, there was certainly enough tension between the two of them for a relationship between them to be a possibility. Dark tension maybe (they were _always_ glaring at each other), but not every relationship erupted sunshine and daisies.

Blaine sighed rubbed his temples. "No, we're not secret boyfriends. Chase isn't even gay. He has a girlfriend."

Kurt was still skeptical. "That doesn't necessarily mean he's straight. She could be a cover."

"She's not."

"Then why did he tell me to stay away from you if he doesn't think he's got some sort of claim on you?"

Blaine's entire body froze. "He what?"

Kurt sat back against his chair. "After class today. He said that I should stay away from you. And even before that when he was asking whether or not you told me yet… I don't know… it just kind of sounds like maybe you two are together." Blaine was just staring at him, and Kurt was starting to feel like a paranoid idiot. "I don't know," he said again. "Maybe I'm making this whole thing up in my head, but what else am I supposed to think, Blaine? Every time you and I act even remotely couple-ly you get this guilty look on your face. And don't try and tell me you don't, because you _do._"

Blaine shook his head, looking lost. "I… that's not… that has nothing to do with Chase."

"Then what does it have to do with?" Kurt pressed. "Look, Blaine, I _like_ you, okay? I have feelings for you. And sometimes you look at me like maybe you do, too. But then you look so guilty afterward. I want to know why."

"You have feelings for me?" Blaine asked in a small voice.

Kurt sighed. "Yes, Blaine, I do."

And there was that guilty look again. "I wish you didn't," Blaine said.

And then Kurt got angry. "Well, there's nothing I can do about that, Blaine! It's not like I'm doing it on purpose!"

"I know," Blaine whispered.

Kurt tried to calm himself down. He really did. But he felt so frustrated. Like he was being pulled apart at the seams with an agonizing slowness. Had they even gotten _anywhere?_

"Look, can we stop this back and forth stuff? I'm tired of it. Can you please just tell me what's going on?"

Blaine ran a hand over his forehead. "I don't know what I'm doing," he finally confessed. "With you, with us, with myself. I'm not good at this sort of thing."

"What sort of thing?" Kurt prompted when Blaine didn't continue.

"The relationship thing. Romance. Whichever you want to call it. I…" he trailed off, shaking his head like he couldn't grasp what he was trying to say. "I have feelings for you, too."

Kurt's heart would have soared if not for the tortured look on Blaine's face. "But…" he forced himself to say, knowing that there was one.

"But I can't do it, Kurt. I… I'm not ready."

"Because of what Chase said you haven't told me yet?" Kurt guessed and Blaine flinched as if the words caused him physical pain.

"There are things that he knows about me that he likes to hold over my head. Private things about myself that I would rather forget." Blaine had a faraway look in his eyes. One that was half angry and half sad. "But he's always there, making me remember."

There was something very wrong in the air. It pressed on them like a weight that no sixteen year old should ever be expected to shoulder. Kurt could see the struggle on Blaine's face. There was something about Chase Dare that was seriously twisted and Blaine was somehow trapped inside the insanity.

Blaine had said to Kurt once that he understood a little at how horrible bullying could be to encourage Kurt to confide in him. But Kurt got the feeling that Blaine understood it better than almost anyone. Better than Kurt, even. He got the feeling that there was something about Blaine's situation that was beyond his comprehension. But if that was true, how was he supposed to help him?

Kurt felt a sudden overwhelming need to see his father even though he knew that was impossible. He had just stumbled onto adult ground and he wasn't sure he liked it.

"…Do you want to talk about it?" Kurt asked.

Blaine started as if that had never occurred to him. "I… I don't know…" He shook his head. "I've never told anyone."

If that was true then Kurt wondered by Chase knew, but he would never say that. "You don't have to. I'd never force you. But if you ever needed to, I'll listen."

"I'm just afraid you'll hate me after I tell you. The things I've done… I used to be so angry all the time…" Blaine looked up at Kurt. "I'm freaking you out, aren't I?" he asked, a sad, ironic smile on his face.

"Maybe a little," Kurt admitted truthfully.

"I'm sorry."

"You don't have to apologize," Kurt said as gently as he could.

Blaine shrugged, a failed attempt at appearing aloof. "I don't know what else to say. Merlin, Kurt, I just feel so messed up." He took a deep, shuddering breath. "I wish I could give you what you wanted, and I just… I don't know."

Kurt knew, even before he opened his mouth, that he was about to be a little selfish. But he couldn't stop himself. Maybe, just for a minute, he wanted to feel like a normal sixteen year old. One whose only worry was whether or not the boy he liked wanted to be with him, too. So he asked, "Do you think that maybe one day you could?"

Blaine, to his credit, seemed to think about it for a second, and in that second Kurt could see that Blaine wanted to be a normal kid just as much as Kurt did. Maybe even more so. "I don't know. I'm so sorry, but I don't know. And I know that's not fair… I'll understand if you would rather not be friends with me anymore," he said, but Kurt could see how much the possibility of that scared him.

"Blaine that will _never_ happen," Kurt said, staring into Blaine's eyes as he spoke in the hopes that the other boy would see how serious Kurt was about that. "You're my best friend whether you like it or not."

Blaine smiled a little. _Just_ a little. But it was something. "You're… you're mine, too."

Kurt managed a smile. "Are we okay, then?" he asked, but Blaine looked hesitant. "What is it?"

Blaine grimaced. "You know that look you were talking about? The guilty one?"

It was the one Blaine had on his face right now, but Kurt suspected now wasn't the best time to bring that up. "Yes…?"

"I know it upsets you… I'm s-"

Kurt glared at him, and Blaine cut off his apology.

"Sorry," he apologized for almost apologizing.

Kurt sighed, exasperated, though he had to admit that the way Blaine had peeked up at Kurt from under his lashes as he did it had been kind of cute. "No more being sorry. And as far as the look goes, I'll deal with it. But you really don't have to feel guilty. It's okay to show your feelings. I would prefer it actually."

Blaine looked skeptical. "But wont that be painful for you? Knowing that I have feelings for you but can't act on them?"

"Maybe," Kurt allowed. "But knowing that you have feelings for me and watching you try to hide them, very unsuccessfully, might I add, is worse in my opinion."

"Okay."

"So, maybe we could try going back to normal?"

This time when Blaine smiled it was almost normal. "I'd like that."

"Good," Kurt said, standing up from the table. "But first things first. Come with me for a second?"

Blaine looked a little confused, but he stood too, and Kurt led them out of the room. Once they were out the door disappeared behind them.

"Kurt, what are we doing?"

Kurt gestured at the wall where the door had been. "Given the depressingly formal state of the room I created, obviously I completely suck at working this thing. Can you get our normal room back?"

Blaine's lips twitched a little like he was trying not to smile. "Your room wasn't… _that_ bad."

"No, no, it was atrocious. I am unashamed. One of these days you're going to have to tell me what you think to make the room your way."

And Kurt hoped that Blaine's blush was a good sign.

* * *

><p>As a couple days went by, Kurt quickly found out that 'back to normal' wasn't exactly <em>back to normal<em>. There was a tension between them that hadn't existed there before. Whether that was because of the seriousness of their discussion in the Room of Requirement or due to the fact that they had both admitted that they each harbored stronger feelings than friendship for each other (albeit in a vague, grade school, like-you-like-you kind of a way, except, you know, _not_, since they certainly weren't holding hands on the playground), Kurt didn't really know. He figured that maybe it was a little of both.

They were all nervous smiles with each other, which may have been cute from an outsider's point of view, but Kurt found the constant butterflies ripping his stomach apart kind of annoying. Not to mention that his brain was well on its way towards an overload as he devised his get-Blaine-Anderson-to-want-to-go-out-with-me plan one minute and scolded himself for it the next. He was doing a lot of muttering to himself, which probably made him look crazy, but he couldn't help it.

Still, for what the tension and butterflies were worth, it was nice to be able to sit back at the Ravenclaw table at meals. Finn and Puck were great, really, but too much of them and Kurt could actually feel his brain cells screaming out in agony as they died slow deaths. Or worse, he would find himself having straight thoughts. Two full hours of listening to 'oh fuck, check out her boobs; handfuls, mate, handfuls,' 'damn, Lauren won't even let me touch hers,' or 'I know, Rachel is a prude,' and Kurt found himself involuntarily comparing breast sizes of all his female friends. It was disturbing.

His sickening straight thoughts aside, however, the Ravenclaw boys were all talking to Blaine again. Except for maybe Nick, who seemed to be in something of a bad mood, though Kurt had no clue as to why.

The two Beaters had been waiting for Kurt and Blaine in the dormitory after they got back from the Room of Requirement on Friday and wasted no time in demanding whether or not 'Blaine had gotten his shit together and asked Kurt to be his boyfriend.' And Kurt could have kicked them for putting that guilty look back on Blaine's face, but he refrained to tell them that he and Blaine were just friends before giving them both a good piece of his mind about respecting other people's privacy.

Jeff had seemed to accept the news just fine, whereas Nick had taken to glowering a lot as he muttered to himself constantly about stupid people who were made for each other but too stubborn to see it. Even weirder was that he wasn't just glaring at Kurt and Blaine. Sometimes he would glare at Jeff, too.

There was something interesting there, Kurt knew, but he had his own problems to sort out, so he pushed Nick's towards the back of his mind to analyze at a later date and let the boy glower at everyone all he wanted without comment.

It was seven days before Halloween and Kurt's stupid, scheming brain had put a thought in his head that he just couldn't get rid of. He had fought it for a few days, but it was getting harder and harder and finally, when he and Blaine were sitting together on their couch in the Room of Requirement before Herbology one day, Kurt blurted it out.

"Have you ever been on a date?" he asked without really meaning to.

Blaine looked surprised by Kurt's question. "No, I haven't," he said slowly.

Kurt took a deep breath. "Want to go on a date with me?"

"Kurt…" Blaine said with a sigh. "I don't think that's a good idea."

"Sure it is," Kurt insisted. "It doesn't have to mean anything more than we want it to. And it's not like we have to keep doing it. It could be just for the experience." Kurt forced a chuckle out, hoping it might make him sound less nervous; as if he really felt like this wasn't a big deal. "You could show me around Hogsmeade."

Last week he had gone to McGonagall and asked her for a permission slip. She had been sternly apologetic, if that made any sense, and had personally sent an owl with the permission slip to Devon, where Carol's - and now Burt's, too - house was. Kurt had sent Pavarotti with a letter better explaining to his father what the permission slip was for and was expecting a reply with a signed slip back any day now.

But Kurt tried to push all that nonsense to the back of his mind because Blaine seemed to actually be considering Kurt's suggestion.

So, of course, like a total idiot, Kurt said, "You don't even have to kiss me afterward," with another nervous little chuckle, and, again, Blaine looked totally shocked. Kurt had to stop himself from smacking himself on the forehead. "Pretend I didn't just say that," he pleaded.

But Blaine surprised him by actually smiling. "Okay, let's do it."

Kurt's heart flew around his body like an out of control pinball. "Really?" he asked with way too much enthusiasm before he remembered that this wasn't supposed to be a big deal. "I mean… umm…"

Blaine laughed. "It's okay to be exited, Kurt. I am, too, even though I've been to Hogsmeade like a million times."

"But never on a date, right?" Kurt had to make sure.

Blaine laughed again. "No, never on a date."

Kurt was surprised his smile didn't split his lips open, but he was glad his excitement didn't cause him any bloodshed. He quickly gathered his things and stuffed them into his bag.

Blaine watched him, a bewildered look on his face. "Woah, wait a minute. Where are you going?"

Kurt looked at him like he had gone crazy. "To pick out a proper outfit, of course," he said, thinking that was pretty obvious. And then a truly horrific thought occurred to him. "Oh, god, tell me we won't be forced to wear these…" he wracked his brain for an appropriate word for his contempt, "these…_things_," he spat, gesturing at his robes and uniforms, "when we go to Hogsmeade."

Blaine pressed his lips together like he was trying really hard not to smile.

Kurt scowled at him. "Don't play games with me, Blaine Anderson. I'm being very serious right now when I say that if you don't give me an honest answer in five seconds, I will kill you completely dead. And that would be unfortunate because then I would have to ask Sean to take me."

Blaine scowled at that. "Absolutely not," he said. "We don't have to wear our uniforms."

"Oh thank god," Kurt sighed, relieved. "Well, in that case, I will be going back to the dorm now. Have fun with your homework." With that, Kurt half ran from the room.

* * *

><p>"I have nothing to we-e-e-ar," Kurt whined as he threw yet another designer shirt onto his bed in utter disgust.<p>

From her place on Jeff's bed, Mercedes snorted. "You're problem is you have way to _much_ to wear, and that is coming from a fashion designer's daughter."

"This is nice," Rachel said from across the room, picking up a vibrant green shirt.

Santana rolled her eyes - yes, she was there, too. "Berry, is your fashion sense truly that hopeless? That is a _Spring_ color. For fuck's sake."

Rachel scowled. "Need I remind you of the school's strict language policy?"

Santana gave her a frosty look. "If you like being ignored that much, then by all means, knock yourself out."

"Black can be worn all year around," Tina put in. She was actually the reason why the entire collection of sixth year Gryffindor girls were currently in his dorm room. Originally he had just planned on asking Rachel and Mercedes, but Mercedes had suggested that Tina come along because she and Mike were having 'Asian problems' whatever the hell that meant. The four of them were on their way to Ravenclaw tower when Santana and Brittany found them and it escalated from there.

"I think Kurt will look pretty no matter what he wears," Brittany said. "But I also think he should wear blue because of his eyes."

Quinn smiled in her dainty, dollish way. "That's a good idea. You have beautiful eyes, Kurt."

Kurt opened his mouth to thank her, but Lauren spoke over him.

"Looking pretty isn't going to get him any hot, sweaty, boy lovin' at the end of the night," she said. "He needs to look sexy."

"I agree," Santana said, grinning at Kurt, who was blushing to the roots of his hair. "Who do you think would top?"

"Oh, definitely Kurt," Lauren said.

Blaine cleared his throat from the doorway, also blushing. "Umm."

Kurt's eyes grew wide. "Blaine!" he said nervously, wishing the floor could swallow him up. "Did - did you need something?"

"I… I just wanted to talk… er… to you. About our… date. It's just that when I agreed to it, I didn't really have time to think about it and…" Blaine trailed off, looking uncomfortable.

Kurt's stomach dropped to his feet, and made sure to kick him hard in the balls on the way down. "Oh."

Seven girls turned to glare dangerously at Blaine.

"Oh, _hell_ to the no," Mercedes said, breaking the silence.

Blaine's expression went panicked. "Oh! No! I didn't mean… and that probably sounded like…" He sighed. "Kurt, could I maybe talk to you outside for a minute?"

"He's not going anywhere with you, Anderson," Santana said, looking angrily at Blaine.

"No, it's alright," Kurt said softly to the girls. If he was going to get rejected, he would rather not have an audience. "Come on, Blaine."

With one last weary look at the girls, Blaine followed Kurt out of the dorm.

"I wasn't trying to say I didn't want to go with you anymore," Blaine said in a rush as soon as the dormitory door was closed.

Kurt folded his arms over his chest with more bravado than he felt. "Really? Because that's kind of what it sounded like."

Blaine winced. "Sorry. It's just that they were talking about… stuff, and I couldn't really think."

"Thank you for the embarrassing reminder," Kurt grumbled.

"Sorry," Blaine grinned a little.

Kurt willed the redness in his cheeks to go away. "So, if you weren't trying to get out of our date, what were you trying to do?"

"Right. After you left I got to thinking about it and I wondered if instead of Hogsmeade you might want to go to muggle London instead. It's just that you'll get loads of other chances to go to Hogsmeade and this is your first date, so…" Blaine shrugged as if to say, 'why not?'

Kurt's eyebrows rose. "Blaine, how would that even be possible? We're, like, hours away from London."

Blaine looked almost shyly up at Kurt. "I have a way. So, we can go, if you'd like. We'd be breaking around fifty school rules, but I've never gotten caught before."

"You do this a lot," Kurt asked, more than a little shocked.

Blaine shrugged like it was no big deal. "A couple times. So, do you want to?"

Kurt had never been to London. He'd never really been to anywhere in England, actually. Just Finn's house, and that was all country area, really. And as far as cities in general went, he had never been to one period. So, it was a no brainer. "Of course I'd like to!"

Blaine's smile was luminous. "Really?"

"Absolutely!" He fought the urge to throw his arms around Blaine's neck in excitement. "I've got to finish planning my outfit so I'm going to go back in. You coming?"

Blaine looked wearily at the door. "No, I think I'll go downstairs." He gave a little shudder. "Girls are sort of scary."

"Yes," Kurt agreed. "But that's why we're gay."

* * *

><p><strong>Okay, this is definitely the last time you'll see me post this, but definitely expect to see Halloween in the next chapter. I know I've been saying that for the past too many chapters and I had planned on putting in a short little scene featuring the boys at a Halloween party in this chapter, but Kurt decided that my ideas basically sucked and that he was going on a date with Blaine instead, so you'll have to put up with October for one more chapter. <strong>

**I was going to try to fit the date into this one but then I looked at the page number and it was at eighteen so that will be next chapter. Sorry! **

**But anyway, I hope you enjoyed chapter seven, thank you to those who favorited, alerted, reviewed, read, and so on and so forth. **

**-Cerez **


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: Since we have only seen the one Klaine kiss, we can all safely assume I have not been given ownership rights of **_**Glee**_**. And as far as **_**Harry Potter**_** goes, seeing as how I still only have about five dollars in my bank account, I seriously doubt I own that either.**

**A/N: Sorry for the wait. Thanks to hurricane Irene, classes were canceled for a while and my professors have been dumping a shit load of work on us as a result. But anyway, here is chapter eight. FINALLY.**

* * *

><p>For all of his hyperactive pep, Blaine wasn't an early riser. On the weekends he slept until eleven in the afternoon and when he was forced to wake up early during the week he always looked adorably dazed until he got into his shower. So Kurt was extremely surprised when he woke up around eight on Halloween morning and Blaine's bed was already made and empty. Blaine himself was no where to be seen.<p>

Instead of going to look for him, though, Kurt walked over to his trunk and pulled out the outfit he had picked for their date before walking over to the bathroom as quietly as he could. Both Nick and Jeff were still dead asleep and he wanted to keep it that way. The last thing he needed or wanted was to wake them up and get made fun of again. If Jeff made a kissy face at him one more time Kurt was going to lose it.

He supposed should have known that telling the boys about his date would only result in a headache. It was Blaine's fault, really. If Blaine hadn't said yes then Kurt wouldn't have been overexcited enough to tell just about everyone who had ears that he was going on his first date. He had even written to his father about it, though he left the bit about London out. Burt had been less than pleased with the idea of Kurt going on a date with 'some British boy,' (Burt had written, _what the hell kind of a name is _Blaine_ anyway_?) but he - a little begrudgingly, perhaps - told Kurt to have a good time just the same. Carole had been much more enthused over the whole thing. Her letter had been practically vomiting with excitement, which only served to feed Kurt's own enthusiasm.

It took Kurt longer than usual to get ready because his hair was just _not_ cooperating but after a few empty threats to shave it off, he finally styled it into submission. Next came his outfit, which he meticulously ironed using magic about fifty times before actually putting it on. He had gone with Brittany's suggestion and settled on his china blue Marc Jacobs shirt, skinny jeans, and a crème colored pea coat. He wasn't sure what the temperature was like in London, but it was plenty chilly in Scotland so the coat was definitely a must.

When he finally exited the bathroom the dorm was completely empty so Kurt when down to the common room. Blaine was sitting at one of the tables with Thad, who, of course, was reading quietly to himself.

Blaine was fiddling with Kurt's iPod; he had developed something of an obsession with Angry Birds and Kurt had given him permission to borrow it whenever he liked. Focused on his game, Blaine had yet to notice Kurt's presence and Kurt took the opportunity to admire the other boy.

Blaine's hair was free of gel, which made Kurt's stomach dip not only because Blaine looked damn good with his curls free, but also because Kurt suspected Blaine had styled it that way because Kurt had mentioned how much he liked it when Blaine's curls were lose the day before. Hopefully that meant that Blaine wanted to look good for Kurt, which was flattering. Not that he would have looked bad with his hair gelled back. His outfit was way too delicious for that - black coat and button down shirt, and dark blue, cuffed jeans.

Blaine chose that moment to finally look up - doing a bit of a double take when he finally noticed Kurt standing on the bottom step. Kurt blushed profusely when Blaine's jaw dropped open slightly and he mouthed 'wow' before getting up and walking over to Kurt with a somewhat awed expression on his face.

"Kurt you look absolutely amazing," he said without preamble.

Kurt's face flamed hotter and he looked down at his shoes in embarrassment. "You didn't gel you're hair back," he pointed out the obvious, peaking back up at Blaine, Kurt's _date_.

Blaine laughed a little and ran a hand through his curls a bit self-consciously. "Yeah, well, you said you liked it this way, so…" He shrugged.

"No, I do," Kurt rushed to reassure him. "It looks nice. You do, too." Kurt smiled shyly. "Really nice."

Blaine grinned. "Thanks."

And then Nick and Jeff popped out of seemingly nowhere and spoiled the moment. "Aw, that was precious," Jeff cooed.

"Positively adorable," Nick agreed.

Blaine rolled his eyes but kept smiling at Kurt. "Shut it, you two."

Jeff pouted and dropped into a seat next to Thad. "Everyone always ruins our fun."

Nick sat down in the chair Blaine had vacated. "Hey, Kurt, can I play with your little rectangle thing?" he asked, holding up the iPod Blaine had left behind when he stood up to greet Kurt.

"Just don't break it," Kurt warned. Nick wooped and the sounds of Angry Birds could be heard from the device's built in speaker. "And don't let Jeff touch it."

Jeff's pout became even more pronounced. "Hey! Why not? I already promised that I wouldn't try to transfigure it again."

"That's what you said that lest three times," Kurt said dryly.

"Yeah, but this time I mean it for real."

"No," Kurt said in a firm tone. "Besides, aren't you guys going down to Hogsmeade soon anyway?"

"Yeah," Nick said. "Damn little pig," he muttered, giving the iPod an angry shake. "In a bit. We need to get some love potion from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes."

Blaine frowned. "For who?"

"Wesley," Jeff grinned. "We believe that he is repressing some very strong romantic feelings for Crazy Eyes."

"Which is unhealthy," Nick put in, not taking his eyes off his game.

"So we're just going to help the him along."

Nick nodded somewhat distractedly, his face a mask of concentration. "Give good 'ol Wes a push in the right direc - oh, bollocks! Little fuckers!"

Kurt shook his head. "You know that Rachel is in love with Finn, right?"

"Incidentals," Jeff waved his hand.

"I done with this," Nick muttered angrily as he stood and shoved the iPod in Kurt's hands. "Never let me play that stupid game again."

Blaine grinned. "You're just angry that you can't beat my record."

Nick scowled. "Stuff it, Anderson." He turned to Jeff. "Ready to go?"

Jeff nodded but instead of getting up he poked Thad in the shoulder. "Come on, Thad, be my date."

"I'd rather not, thanks," Thad without looking up from his book.

"Aw, please," Jeff pleaded. "Joanna turned me down last night. I_ need_ a date!"

Thad snorted. "I take back what I said about her being a simpleton, then."

Nick clapped Jeff on the shoulder. "If Thad wants to be antisocial like _always _then I think we should let him." He grinned. "That way, we can pick up some potion for him, too. Maybe we can make him fall in love with Professor Sylvester. She looks enough like a man to satisfy his needs."

Scowling, Thad slammed his book closed. "I hate you both," he declared as he stomped towards the exit. Jeff and Nick grinned at each other and hurried after him.

Kurt turned towards Blaine. "And we are friends with these people because…?"

"Because no one else would take them and by keeping an eye on them we are doing a service to humankind."

"Right," Kurt said. It was probably true anyway. "So, how are we getting to London?"

A weary look came over Blaine's face. "Promise not to kill me?"

"Uh oh."

Blaine winced. "We're going to Floo there from a shop in Hogsmeade."

Kurt looked down at his pristine coat. "Oh, god," he moaned, imagining it covered in cinders. It wasn't the most expensive coat he owned by any means, but that certainly didn't mean it was cheap either.

"But don't worry," Blaine said in a rush. "I checked some books out of the library and I've been practicing cleaning spells all week. I'll make your clothes look good as new as soon as we're out of the Floo, I promise."

That gave Kurt pause. "You did all that just for me?" he asked quietly.

Blaine's cheeks went slightly red. "Yeah," he said, bashful. "You love your clothes so much. I didn't want them ruined…"

Kurt didn't know what to say. Blaine was just amazing.

"Thank you," he breathed.

Blaine beamed at him. "Your welcome."

* * *

><p>As they walked down to Hogsmeade Kurt could feel the tension in their air. He must have gone on walks with Blaine about a million times but it felt different this time. Because this time they were on a <em>date<em>. Kurt felt like he was supposed to behave a certain way, but he wasn't sure how.

By accident they both stepped a little too close together and the backs of their hands brushed, causing each of them to blush.

"Maybe we should establish some rules," Kurt suggested to break the silence.

"Rules?" Blaine asked.

"Mmhmm. So both of us can feel comfortable."

Blaine smiled a bit shyly and bumped Kurt's shoulder. "Why? Do you feel uncomfortable being on a date with me?" he asked, his tone light and teasing, but there was a seriousness in his eyes.

"Maybe a little," Kurt said truthfully with a smile of his own. "Do you?"

"A little," Blaine agreed, looking slightly relieved.

"See?" Kurt asked. "Rules. What are they?"

Slowly, Blaine slipped his hand into Kurt's and intertwined their fingers. "Is this okay?" he asked.

An embarrassing lump formed in Kurt's throat and he quickly tried to force it back down. "I… yes, it's okay."

How long had he dreamed of holding someone's hand this way? Much longer than he cared to remember. That particular desire of his had only increased after meeting Blaine.

So, maybe handholding was exactly new for them, but it had never been like this. Never with their fingers intertwined and their palms pressed together. The sensation of it all made Kurt's stomach flutter.

"So," Kurt said, hoping that he didn't sound too breathless, "anything else?"

Blaine swung their hands a little. "Well, aside from the obvious no strings attached rule, I can't think of anything else other than maybe a safe word or something in case one of us feels like the other is overstepping."

Kurt pulled a face. "A safe word, Blaine? Really? You do realize you're making this sound like some sort of illicit sexual arrangement. It's only a date."

To his credit, Blaine's face went red. "I didn't mean it like that!"

"Sure," Kurt deadpanned.

Blaine released Kurt's hand to give him a playful shove. "I didn't," he insisted, still a little red, but it looked like he was trying not to laugh. And then he suddenly turned serious. "I only meant that this whole date thing has the potential to complicate things…" Blaine trailed off, but the unspoken _for you_ was heard loud and clear as far as Kurt was concerned. Because the rather pathetic truth was that Kurt wanted to be with Blaine but Blaine didn't want to be with Kurt.

Blaine sighed, refusing to meet Kurt's eyes. "I don't want to hurt you."

_You already are_, Kurt couldn't help thinking.

And there was that stupid lump again. But this was a different kind of lump. It was the kind that stung the insides of your throat and made it difficult to breathe. It was also much harder to swallow.

Miserably, Kurt wondered why Blaine assumed that this would only be hard for Kurt. Why wasn't it hard for Blaine? If Blaine truly did have feelings for Kurt then shouldn't it be just as difficult for him?

But despite his insecurities, Kurt put on a brave face, determined to have at least one date if he couldn't have everything, and grabbed Blaine's hand again.

"You're not going to hurt me. We're just doing this for the experience. And for fun. Like I said before, this date doesn't have to mean anything more than what we want it to." Kurt tried to smile in what he hoped was a reassuring way. "So are you taking me to London or not?"

Blaine studied Kurt's face in silence, probably searching for any hint of uncertainty. Kurt must have done a good job hiding it though, because it wasn't long before Blaine finally smiled for real. "I am."

Kurt smiled, too. "Good."

They walked to the rest of the way towards the village talking about nonsense and school related stuff. Once they got there, however, Kurt stopped talking to admire his surroundings. Hogsmeade was just as magical and timeless as Hogwarts was. The little shops were so precious that Kurt almost wished that they would be staying.

"It's beautiful isn't it?" Blaine asked, looking at Kurt's no doubt awed expression.

Kurt nodded. "Do you know when the next visit is?"

"Probably a couple weeks before Christmas break. If you'd rather stay here, we can go to London another time," he offered.

"No, no," Kurt shook his head. "I want to go to London today. Besides, I have a feeling Hogmeade will be way more impressive with snow on the ground." Kurt didn't exactly like snow. It was cold, wet, and if it was cold enough to snow that meant it was cold enough to turn his face into a blotchy mess. But it was still beautiful. His mother used to say snow made everything magical.

Blaine smiled fondly. "It is," he confirmed. "There's nothing I love more than Hogwarts in winter." He walked them to a shop's front door. "Here we are."

Lost in his thoughts, Kurt hadn't been paying enough attention to notice the shop's marquee, if it had been one to begin with, so he asked, "Where is here?"

The muscles around Blaine's mouth tightened. "My father's office."

"Your father's?" Kurt asked.

Blaine nodded and pulled the door open. "One of them, anyway. Come on."

Whatever Kurt had been expecting, what he found when they walked through the door was definitely not it. The place was pristine - hospital pristine, complete with spotless white walls and tiled floors. A reception desk was located straight ahead and a balding man sat uncomfortably straight in a chair behind it. Behind the desk was a hallway with a number of closed doors. Everything about the place was wrong given the quaint village located just outside. It was too modern, too cold. It made Kurt uncomfortable.

The balding man looked up from his papers. "Blaine," he said not unkindly, but there was a definite a tightness in his tone that indicated he felt their being there was an inconvenience. Right away Kurt knew that he wasn't going to like him. "What are you doing here?" asked in that same stuffed up tone. When his eyes landed on Blaine and Kurt's joined hands, he frowned. "Your father said you were done with that."

Kurt's eyebrows rose. What the hell was that supposed to mean?

Blaine's grip on Kurt's hand tightened ever so slightly. "I would like to use the fireplace in my father's office. I need to speak with him."

"Clearly," the man said slowly, still looking at Blaine and Kurt's hands. After an uncomfortable silent minute the man finally looked up at Blaine's face. "Take all the time you need. Shall I ask one of our potioneers to make a bottle for you? No doubt your father will order it done."

Blaine flinched ever so slightly at the man's words. "That won't be necessary," he said tightly.

The man didn't look like he believed it, but nodded just the same. Then his green eyes lit on Kurt. "Will your… friend be waiting here?"

"No, I'm taking him with me," Blaine said and started for some stairs located to their right that Kurt hadn't seen before. Since Blaine held his hand, Kurt had no choice but to follow, not that he would have liked to stay or anything.

"What was that about?" he asked when they were half way up the steps.

Blaine snorted. "That was Frank."

"Is he always that pleasant?"

"Always."

Kurt knew that he probably shouldn't ask any more questions, but over the past week he had come to the realization that he knew hardly anything about Blaine.

Blaine was nice and he had a beautiful personality in addition to being one of the most selfless people Kurt had ever met, but those things weren't much in the grand scheme of things and Kurt was curious.

"What is this place?" Kurt asked.

"Potions lab," Blaine said as he led them down a hall. "My father owns several of them. He's also head of the Magical Potions and Elixirs branch at the World Ministry."

Kurt wasn't sure that he should ask his next question, but he figured that Blaine wouldn't tell Kurt if he didn't want to. After all, he refused to tell Kurt about whatever it was that was keeping him from entering into a relationship. So, he asked, "What was he talking about when he offered to have a bottle made for you?" As soon as the words were out of Kurt's mouth, Blaine's jaw immediately tightened. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," Kurt rushed to say.

They stopped in front of a closed door and Blaine sighed. "No, it's okay. I would have told you eventually anyway." Blaine took a deep breath. "My father doesn't approve of my sexuality. He's tried to change it in the past."

Kurt's stomach tightened. "What do you mean change it?"

Blaine smiled sadly, a far away look in his eyes. "With a potion he created for me a few years ago. It was supposed to make me heterosexual. Obviously, it didn't work or else I wouldn't be so attracted to you."

During any other circumstances Kurt would have been over the moon to hear Blaine say he found Kurt attractive. Now, however…

"Blaine… I don't know what to say."

Blaine squeezed Kurt's hand reassuringly, which felt incredibly backwards given the situation. "Kurt, you don't have to say anything. He's been trying to change me my whole life. Being gay is just one more thing about me that he has a problem with. He's an asshole. Always has been. I'm used to it." He shrugged like it was no big deal, but all Kurt had to do was look in Blaine's eyes to see that it very clearly was.

"…Is that why you and I can't be together? Because of him?" Kurt asked and immediately regretted it. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry. And it's not because of him. I don't care what he thinks about me or my lifestyle."

Kurt nodded, suddenly realizing that any hopes he had of getting Blaine to change his mind about staying friends today were absolutely crushed. The emotional abuse Blaine must have endured from living with a father who didn't accept him was bad enough, as far as Kurt was concerned. Kurt couldn't even begin to imagine what could possibly be worse than that… it was scary.

Suddenly Blaine smiled. "This is really bad date conversation. You ready to get out of here?"

Kurt was ready for just about anything so long as 'anything' chased away the shadows in Blaine's eyes. "Yes," he nodded, trying his best to smile too. "But won't Frank suspect something when we don't come back down?"

"I doubt it," Blaine said, finally opening the door they were standing in front of. "He never has before. Out of sight, out of mind."

There were three separate fireplaces in the room behind the door and Blaine led them to the one that was farthest to the right. "Have you ever traveled by Floo powder before?" he asked Kurt.

"Once." Kurt grimaced at the memory.

Blaine grabbed a small bag of powder that was sitting on the mantle. "At least it's not as bad as Apparating."

Kurt took a deep breath. "I wouldn't know." And another. "Alright let's get this over with."

"Okay," Blaine nodded as he held out the now open bag to Kurt. "We're going to the Exploding Banshee."

Kurt rose an eyebrow. "That sounds pleasant."

Blaine grinned. "It's really dodgy, actually. Like, _really_ dodgy. But it's one of my favorite places in the world. You go first."

Carefully, Kurt dipped his hand into the bag and pulled out a handful of the soft, chalky powder before stepping into the fireplace just as carefully. Traveling by Floo Powder didn't hurt, but being engulfed in green flames was still unsettling. "Here I go," he said, stalling.

"When you get there, be sure to tell Seamus you're with me. I wouldn't want him trying to attack you or anything. He tends to blow things up a lot."

With that pleasant send off, Kurt released the powder from his hand. "Exploding Banshee!" he said, sure to pronounce each syllable as clear as he could despite how silly he felt saying something so ridiculous. He closed his eyes when the flames erupted and when he opened them a second later he found himself in a dreary little bar and he took a minute to look around.

Everything save the glasses and liquor bottles was made of wood. The only light came from candles and there was dust on a number of surfaces. On the wall behind the bar was a slew of moving pictures. Some people would say that the place had character. Kurt would say it was in desperate need of a good scrub and an experienced decorator.

He hoped that didn't show on his face, however, because all the rooms' occupants (there were seven that Kurt could see after an extremely fast head count) turned to look at him.

"Who the hell are you?" A man with sandy hair, a couple of scars, a mischievous face, and an Irish accent asked from behind the bar. He looked to be younger than thirty but older than twenty five.

"Umm," Kurt said. "I'm here with Blaine Anderson?"

The man quirked an eyebrow. "Are you asking me or telling me?"

"Telling," Kurt said a bit snappishly.

Several men (there wasn't a single woman amongst them) laughed, the Irish man included. Kurt really didn't see what was so funny.

"Are you Seamus?" he asked the sandy haired man.

The man smirked. "That I am. Seamus Finnigan, Irishman, and owner of this here pub. And who might you be?"

"Kurt Hummel," he introduced himself.

Seamus nodded. "Well, Kurt Hummel, you going to stand there all day, or are you going to actually come in? Andy might have an easier time getting through if you weren't blocking the fireplace."

More laughter.

Felling stupid and now slightly annoyed, Kurt stepped out of the fireplace and walked over to the bar. "Who is Andy?" he asked.

No one answered him, though, because the fireplace was suddenly engulfed with green flames and Blaine appeared in their midst.

Seamus grinned at Blaine. "Well, now, there he is. Been a while. We were staring to think you didn't like us anymore."

Blaine smiled in his polite way and stepped out of the fireplace. "I've been busy," he said.

Seamus looked at Kurt. "I can see that," he said, smiling. Blaine blushed and the men laughed. Seamus grabbed a glass and started cleaning it. "So, what the hell are you doing in my pub?" he asked Blaine. "Besides stirring up trouble."

Blaine stopped to stand next to Kurt. "I do _not_ stir up trouble," he insisted.

Seamus snorted and looked to a dark skinned man sitting to Kurt's left. "You hear that, Dean? Andy here doesn't stir up trouble."

Kurt quirked a brow. Andy?

"Of course not," Dean said in a dry tone. "How's Neville?" he asked Blaine.

"Professor Longbottom is fine. Nick and Jeff blew up a venomous tentacula last week."

Seamus grinned. "Nice."

Dean shook his head, a smile on his face. "Those two remind me of Fred and George," he muttered. "Where are they, anyway?"

"They're busy cleaning out George's supply of love potions," Blaine said. "And besides, I'm on a date."

The room erupted with whistles and catcalls and Kurt blushed as everyone turned to look at him.

Blaine ignored them and said to Kurt, "Here, I'll clean you off," as he pulled out his wand from the inside of his jacket and pointed it at Kurt's soot covered pea coat, which Kurt had been trying very hard not to freak out over.

"A date, huh?" Seamus said, leaning his elbows against the bar, looking at Kurt as if he was some sort of specimen that needed studying.

Dean, however, was looking at Blaine. "Your first date together?" he asked.

"Yep," Blaine said, smiling as he worked with his wand. Kurt had to admit that Blaine was doing a really good job of it. In less than a minute Kurt's jacket was looking as pristine as it had the day he bought it.

"Thanks," Kurt said when Blaine was finished and Blaine acknowledged his thanks with a smile.

"So you bring him _here_?" Dean asked in an incredulous tone, as he watched the sweet exchange between the two boys.

"Oi!" Seamus protested. "Lay off mi place! This here is a _nice _establishment."

Dean snorted into his pint. "My ass," he muttered before taking a gulp of whatever was inside.

Seamus glared at his friend. "Don't listen to anything this tosser says, Andy. I'm not surprised at all that you brought him here." Seamus puffed up his chest proudly.

"Actually," Blaine said with an apologetic smile, "I'm taking him to muggle London. He's never been."

"Oh, that's just great," Seamus grouched, though it was obvious that he wasn't really offended. Then his face turned serious. "Came here from your da's shop, did you?"

Blaine frowned. "Yeah."

"Still being a right bastard, I take it?" Seamus asked, filling a glass with a honey colored liquid.

"Seamus," Dean said in a warning tone.

Blaine cleared his throat. "Yeah, he is. I don't think that's going to change."

"Bastard," Seamus repeated, scowling. "Well, don't let it get you down, Andy. You should have fun today." He turned to look hard at Kurt. "You better treat him nice, yeah?"

Kurt rose his eyebrows in a silent 'bitch please' that would have done Mercedes proud.

Seamus grinned, unphased despite Kurt's best efforts. "Oh, I like him," he declared.

Blaine smiled. "You don't have to threaten Kurt, Seamus. I'm not a girl."

"I know that," Seamus said seriously. "But all the same."

Blaine shook his head and turned to Kurt. "Ready?"

"As I'll ever be," Kurt smiled and Blaine took his hand again. "It was nice to have met you all."

Blaine led Kurt towards the back of the pub towards a door with a sign on it that read: ENTRENCE TO THE UNFORTUNATE WORLD WITHOUT QUIDDITCH. Underneath that message was another, this one hand written: FOOTBALL MAKES UP FOR IT!

Kurt rose an eyebrow in silent question and Blaine grinned. "Seamus and Dean have different opinions regarding the world's best sport. Dean is muggle born." He pulled the door open. "This is his sports shop."

Kurt immediately shielded his eyes. Over the past two months at Hogwarts, Kurt had grown accustomed to dim candle light, and the bright, florescent light that lit the modern store made him squint. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust and when they did, he looked at the cash register as if he had never seen one before.

Blaine pulled the door closed behind them and Kurt noticed that the words EMPLOYEES ONLY were written in bold type across it to discourage customers from walking through, but Kurt also sensed a magic covering the metal surface, though the door had been wooden on the Seamus' side. More than likely the magic he sensed was a repelling charm to keep the muggles away.

"So, why do they call you Andy?" Kurt asked as Blaine led him through the aisles of soccer cleats and jerseys and towards the exit.

"The first time I snuck off campus I was twelve. I overheard Professor Longbottom telling Hagrid about his friend getting a permit to have a shop with an entrance to the muggle world. I was getting bullied a lot then and I needed an escape, so it seemed kind of perfect." Blaine shrugged. "I figured I could Floo to the shop and then sneak out before anyone saw me or something ridiculous like that. Seamus caught me, of course. Kind of hard not to with the fireplace being right in the middle of the pub. I had stupidly assumed that everyone's Floo would be in a separate room like my father's." Blaine shook his head at himself. "Anyway, I didn't want to get into trouble so I told him my name was Andrew. I eventually told him my real name, but I guess Andy just stuck."

"You form the oddest relationships with people," Kurt said.

Blaine grinned. "I can't help it."

* * *

><p>"This is it," Blaine said as he came to a stop under a small tree and plopped himself down on the ground, sitting with his knees bent and his feet flat against the ground. He placed the brown paper bag that housed their breakfasts between his legs and patted the stop beside him to indicate that Kurt should sit.<p>

Kurt looked at the grassy earth and frowned. "Blaine, these jeans cost me over two hundred dollars."

Blaine gave Kurt's pants a calculating once over. "Well, in that case, we can't have them getting dirty, can we?" He shrugged off his jacket and spread it out on the ground. "You can sit on this."

Kurt rose a brow and tried not to laugh at the gesture, which seemed so romantic and old fashioned that it embarrassed him a little. "Has anyone ever told you that you were born in the wrong era?"

Blaine grinned and tugged at his loose curls. "Not with my hair like this."

"Especially with your hair like that," Kurt said.

Blaine smiled. "Are you going to sit down?"

Kurt moved his cup of coffee to his other hand. "I suppose," he said as he sat down next to Blaine, confident that his clothing would be protected from dirt and grass stains.

Blaine opened up the bag with their pastries and handed one to Kurt, who took the food with a quiet thanks and bit into the sugary bread. "Holy crap, that's amazing," Kurt said after he swallowed the bite, which had all but melted in his mouth like butter.

"Told you," Blaine said in a teasing tone as he took a bite of his own food.

Kurt was so lost in the amazingness that was his pastry that he almost forgot about the coffee Blaine had bought for him - _real_ coffee and not that nasty sludge they had at Hogwarts. He took a sip of the hot liquid. "Mmmm," he hummed his appreciation as he closed his eyes to savor the taste, his head thrown back a little. When he opened them he found Blaine staring at him with his mouth opened slightly and his cheeks flushed. Embarrassed at his own idiocy, Kurt looked away, his face hot. "I, uh, forgot what good coffee tasted like," he said lamely.

"Understandable," Blaine said, though his voice thick. He cleared his throat. "So how am I doing so far?"

"How are you doing?" Kurt asked, confused.

"With our date," Blaine explained himself.

"Oh," Kurt said. "Well, judging from the taste of this alone, I'd say your doing just fine despite the fact that we got here less than twenty minutes ago." As soon as they left Dean's sports shop Blaine had taken them to a small café to pick up food and then walked them to a nearby park to eat it, hence the makeshift picnic. "One thing I'm confused about, though. Do you always carry muggle money around with you?" Kurt hadn't really thought about how they were going to pay for anything until they were next in line at the cash register. And then came the rather embarrassing realization that all he had on him was wizards' currency.

"I always make sure I have some with me before I leave for school, just in case." Blaine finished his pastry and grabbed a second as he made himself comfortable under the tree they were sitting under. "Whenever I do this, I always come here first."

"Any particular reason?" Kurt wondered.

Blaine shrugged and looked around. "Well, it's quiet for one. And it's really beautiful here." He laughed. "I always used to think that this would be a really good place to bring a date, actually. I was kind of excited to bring you here."

"Oh, is that why you all but dragged me down the street after we got our food?"

"Maybe," Blaine grinned and grabbed Kurt's hand (Kurt had finished his one pastry and was almost done with his coffee so his right hand was free). "I really like doing this, you know," Blaine said as he looked at their joined fingers. "Holding your hand, I mean. I'd never held hands with someone before." He caressed the back of Kurt's hand with his thumb and Kurt's stomach flipped.

"Blaine, we hold hands all the time," he said, trying to dispel some of his nerves by making light of the situation.

"Yeah, but not like this. Not with our fingers intertwined. Not for doing it just for the sake of doing it," Blaine said, voicing Kurt's thoughts from earlier that day.

"When you say you've never held hands before, does that mean you haven't done other stuff either?"

"You mean like kissing?" Blaine asked.

Unable to speak, Kurt nodded.

"No, I've kissed before."

Kurt digested that in silence, unsure how he felt about that.

"Does that bother you?" Blaine asked.

Kurt thought about that. "I don't know if I would say it 'bothers' me. I just didn't know that about you."

"Have you kissed anyone before?" Blaine asked.

Kurt looked down at their hands, unsure he would be able to handle answering that question while looking at Blaine. "Not really."

"Not really?" Blaine prompted.

Kurt looked up with a guilty expression on his face. "I kissed a girl once."

Blaine's mouth dropped open. "No way."

Embarrassed, Kurt busied himself with taking a large gulp pf his coffee.

Blaine was smiling at him. "You can't just say that and not give me details. There's got to be a story there."

"Not really," Kurt muttered. "I just thought my father would like it better if I was straight. So I tried it for a while."

The smile vanished from Blaine's face. "What did he say? Did he…?" Blaine didn't finish, but Kurt could guess what he was going to say.

"No. He told me that my job was to be myself and that his job was to love me no matter what."

Blaine smiled a bit sadly, no doubt thinking about his own father. "He sounds really amazing."

"He is."

"I'd like to meet him one day."

Kurt squeezed Blaine's hand. "I'd like that too."

* * *

><p>"You can't be serious," Kurt said as Blaine grinned at him from under what had to be the most ridiculous hat he had ever laid eyes on.<p>

After eating their breakfasts, Blaine had proceeded to show Kurt all around London. He hadn't seemed to be too concerned with taking Kurt to see the traditional sights the city was most famous for, but Kurt didn't mind. He was having fun just spending time with Blaine and getting to see some of his favorite places.

"What?" Blaine asked innocently as he glanced in one of the hat shop's many mirrors. "I think I look good." To prove his point he struck a pose that was as ridiculous as the hat on his head.

Kurt rolled his eyes and tried to keep from smiling. "Absolutely not."

Blaine turned back to Kurt with his lip sticking out. "Now, see, that hurts."

"The truth can do that at times."

Blaine scoffed. "As my date you're supposed to think I look amazing at all times, but I'll forgive you just this once."

"And why is that?" Kurt wondered.

Blaine shrugged. "Well, obviously you're jealous."

"Jealous?" Kurt repeated.

"Of how fabulous I look in this hat."

"You look fabulous, alright," Kurt muttered, eying the obnoxiously large, vibrant pink feather protruding from the side of Blaine's lime green hat. Kurt was all for taking risks in fashion and standing out, but the hat Blaine had on his head was just _not_ the way to go.

"But," Blaine said as if Kurt hadn't spoken, "that is easily remedied. It just so happens that I have here a hat equally as fabulous as this one for you to wear." Smiling like a proud five-year-old who had accomplished something, Blaine pulled out what could only be described as a yellow fez, which might not have been all that bad if not for the three very long orange feathers that sprouted from the top and shot straight up towards the ceiling.

"That is never going to happen," Kurt said firmly before he steeled himself for Blaine's response.

And Blaine didn't disappoint: he stuck out his lower lip and looked forlornly up at Kurt through his lashes. "But I think you would look cute in it."

"There is absolutely nothing 'cute' about that hat, Blaine. It's a travesty. And a horrible one at that. Whoever made it should be forced to wear it and then look at themselves all day."

Blaine gasped loudly, his whole body going into the action. "Kurt, that's _mean_."

"So is whoever decided to create something so hideous. Obviously he or she was trying to make people look bad on purpose."

Blaine patted the top of that hat as if he was trying to comfort it. "Don't let the mean, mean boy get you down. I think you're beautiful."

"Maybe you should wear it, then," Kurt suggested, rolling his eyes.

"Okay!" Blaine said happily and started to take the first hat off.

"No!" Kurt insisted, grabbing both hats away from Blaine and holding them high above his head.

Blaine frowned as he looked up at the hats. "Now that's just not fair." Cue the pout. "I just wanted to look pretty for you."

Kurt rolled his eyes and tossed the hats on a high shelf. "You don't need to put anything on to look pretty, Blaine," he said without thinking.

"Why, Kurt!" Blaine gasped as he followed Kurt back out of the little shop, which Blaine had deemed 'the best hat shop in the world'. "You think I'm pretty?"

"No," Kurt said, his cheeks coloring.

"You do, you do!" Blaine insisted. "_You think I'm pretty without any makeup on_," he sang.

"I never should have introduced you to Katy Perry," he muttered, willing his blush to go away.

Blaine laughed and grabbed Kurt's hand. "Are you hungry?"

"How much time do we have left?" Kurt asked, though in all honesty he really didn't want to know. This was turning out to be the best day of his life. The last thing he wanted to do was go back to school where his relationship with Blaine would go back to being mostly platonic. Without really meaning to, Kurt tightened his grip on Blaine's hand.

"We have to make sure we're back before tonight's feast starts. So we've got time to have a late lunch and then go one last place, if you want. We can spend lunch critiquing other people's outfits."

Kurt smiled. "Let's not waste any more time, then."

* * *

><p>When Blaine had said 'one last place' Kurt certainly hadn't thought it would be a playground, and yet here he was, standing in front of a swing set.<p>

"Okay, before you say anything," Blaine began, "swinging is not optional."

Kurt looked over at Blaine with both eyebrows raised. "The last time I was on a swing I think I was five."

Blaine blanched. "Tell me you're lying."

"Nope," Kurt shook his head.

"Oh, Merlin. I can hear your inner child screaming."

"Funny," Kurt said dryly. "I can't hear a thing."

Blaine shook his head, "Oh, it's worse than I thought." He walked over to a swing and sat down on it. "Hurry, Kurt, before you suffocate him to death."

"I'm not suffocating anyone," Kurt insisted. "And swinging on that thing will only mess up my hair."

"No, no, you _have_ to, Kurt. You do. Because I've always wanted to go on a date with a really hot guy and swing on a swing with him while we hold hands and laugh about how wonderful life is."

Kurt snorted. "If I'm suffocating my inner child then you've got yours hogtied and refuse to let him go."

Blaine grinned. "Maybe. But I still want you to be my hot swinging partner."

Kurt rolled his eyes and walked over to the swings despite himself. The things he did for Blaine Anderson. At least he hadn't worn that stupid hat. "Why do I put up with you?"

"Kurt," Blaine said sternly. "We've been through this. It's because I'm precious. Now give it."

"Give what?" Kurt asked as he made himself as comfortable as he could on the rubber strip, which wasn't very.

"Your hand," Blaine said as if Kurt was being difficult on purpose. Trying hard not to think of how precious Blaine really was, Kurt held out his hand and Blaine took it. "Okay, ready?" he asked and Kurt nodded as they pushed against the ground together.

Holding hands, they got a steady rhythm going so that they were swinging slowly back and forth in sync. Blaine grinned over at Kurt and giggled.

Kurt couldn't help but laugh. "You're so ridiculous."

"Yeah, but you're having fun with me."

"Only a little," Kurt lied. "So why was this something you've always wanted to do?"

"I don't know," Blaine shrugged. "I've just always wanted to. I guess because when I was little swinging was always my favorite thing to do. My parents bought a huge playground for me but I only ever played on the swings." With a far away look on his face, Blaine looked up at the darkening sky. "I think swinging is the most peaceful thing in the world."

Kurt had to admit that it kind of was. There was something utterly calming about how it was just the two of them, with no one else around, and no other sounds save their voices and the gently squeaking chains as they went back and forth.

"My mom used to push me on the swings at the playground before she got sick," Kurt suddenly remembered. "She said they were her favorite."

Blaine smiled. "That must have been nice."

"It was," Kurt said. "I can't believe I forgot."

"You remember now. That's what's important."

"Thanks for reminding me," Kurt said softly.

"You're welcome." He started stoking Kurt's hand with his thumb again. "Do you look like her?"

"I guess," Kurt said. "My dad always tells me that I do. I have her eyes and her hair color, but... she was really beautiful. She had this habit of making everyone smile. Even when I was having the worst day, she would kind of just look at me and everything would start to feel better."

Blaine's gaze was intense on Kurt. "You're like that, too, Kurt. You're all of those things," he insisted.

"No," Kurt said, looking down at his lap. "My mother was gentle and poised. I'm not like that at all. I've got too much of my dad's sarcasm." He scowled. "And my grandfather's big, pointed nose."

Blaine ducked down a little to try and catch Kurt's eye. "That doesn't make you any less beautiful. In fact, I think your nose is adorable. And you being sarcastic isn't a bad thing. It's just part of who you are and you are the person who makes me want to smile when I'm feeling sad. When you look at me everything becomes okay."

"Blaine…" Kurt didn't know what to say. Not one had ever said anything like that to him before.

Blaine frowned, his eyebrows knitting close together. "I'm-"

"Please don't," Kurt interrupted. "Don't say you're sorry. Because if you do, then it's like you're taking it back and I don't want you to."

With an unreadable expression on his face, Blaine nodded. "Okay. I won't." He looked up at the sky again. "We should be getting back."

But Kurt didn't want to go. He wasn't ready to let go of Blaine's hand yet. "Five more minutes."

"Okay."

* * *

><p>With each step towards the castle, Kurt felt his throat close just a little bit more. Ever since they had gotten back to Hogsmeade, neither of them had spoken. They both knew what was coming and Kurt suspected that he wasn't the only one who didn't want this day to end. Both of them were gripping tightly to the other's hand.<p>

They stopped at the main entrance to the school. "Here we are," Kurt stated the obvious, not knowing what else to say.

"Here we are," Blaine repeated. "I had a lot of fun."

"Me, too," Kurt smiled a little.

Blaine nodded scuffed his shoe against the stone. "I don't want to go in," he said softly.

Kurt's stomach felt heavy. "Me neither."

"But we have to, right?"

"I don't think my dad would appreciate it if I dropped out of school," Kurt forced a chuckle.

"Probably not," Blaine agreed. And then without warning, he released Kurt's hand and pulled him close in a furious hug. "Today was better than anything I could have ever imagined," he said in Kurt's ear. "Thank you." He pulled back slowly as if he didn't want to let go. Kurt wouldn't have minded if he kept holding on for the rest of forever. "Maybe one day we can…"

Blaine trailed off and Kurt could feel it coming. The Look. So he took a deep breath. "Hey, we agreed, right? No strings attached." He was starting to curse himself for ever having this stupid idea in the first place.

"Right," Blaine nodded as if he was trying to reassure himself. "No strings attached. Are we okay, then? Are you still my best friend?"

"Always," Kurt forced a smile. "Let's go in." More than anything he wanted to stay right where they were. "I'm kind of hungry." He couldn't give a fuck about food.

"Okay," Blaine smiled. "The Halloween feast is always amazing."

Blaine led the way to the Great Hall. Kurt's hand felt heavy, like it was weighing his entire arm down, which was ironic because he never been so brutally aware of how empty it was. But he forced that rather depressing thought to the back of his mind and smiled when he saw his friends sitting at the Ravenclaw table, waving them over with grins on their faces and candy in their hands.

* * *

><p><strong>Wow this was the longest chapter out of all of them. But I missed last week's update so here's hoping you guys don't mind the crazy length. <strong>

**Next chapter is the first Quidditch game, finally. And possibly some drama. Blaine can't hide behind his secrets forever. Or maybe I should give them one more chapter of 'peace' before it call comes tumbling down. We shall see. **

**As always, thank you to everyone for reading and/or reviewing. Hopefully the next update wont take quite so long!**

**-Cerez**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: Since we have only seen the one Klaine kiss, we can all safely assume I have not been given ownership rights of **_**Glee**_**. And as far as **_**Harry Potter**_** goes, seeing as how I still only have about five dollars in my bank account, I seriously doubt I own that either.**

* * *

><p>With his fists clenched tightly around his broom handle, Kurt was speeding towards the ground at almost a ninety degree angle. He had started the dive from a height that probably wasn't advisable as far as successfully completing the difficult maneuver was concerned, but he was determined. His nerves had been on edge all week and maybe taking a risk would do him some good by relieving some of the tension he felt. It would also serve to keep his mind off things. After all, he couldn't possibly be thinking about Blaine, their date, or the extremely complicated relationship the two of them shared when he was hurtling head first towards the ground.<p>

Nope. Not thinking about Blaine. Not at all.

"Kurt,_ pull up!" _a frantic voice yelled - it was Blaine, of course, and he was running towards Kurt with a wild, terrified look in his eyes.

_Focus, goddamnit!_ Kurt yelled at himself as he tore his eyes off Blaine in favor of looking at the ground rushing up to meet him. Twenty feet to go. Ten now. Five. Two.

Kurt wrenched up his broom with all his might, leveling out over the ground at the last possible second. The broom wobbled, only a tiny bit, though it had absolutely nothing on Kurt's wildly beating heart.

_Ohmigod, I did it!_

He was in the middle of doing a mental happy dance when Blaine slammed into him from his left, tackling them both to the ground.

"Blaine!" Kurt protested as he leaped up and started looking over his clothing. If he found so much as a spec of a dirt on anything, he was going to freak. "What the hell was that?" he asked hotly once he was absolutely sure his clothing was still the physical representation of perfection.

From his place on the ground, Blaine looked up at Kurt with wide, disbelieving eyes. "Are you completely mental?" he demanded loudly. "What were you _doing_?"

Kurt rolled his eyes and bent down to grab his broom off the grass. "It's called the Wronski Feint, Blaine. I'm sure you've heard of it. My new broom just got here. I wanted to try it out."

The broom had been a gift from his father, who had been over the moon about Kurt being on the Quidditch team. Kurt knew Burt's elation had less to do with Quidditch and more to do with the fact that his son liked a sport in general, because if there was one thing Burt Hummel understood it was team sports. Kurt didn't care much what Burt's reasoning for it was. He was just happy that his dad was excited about it, and excited Burt most definitely was.

According to Carole, almost the very second Burt had gotten the letter about Kurt making the team, Burt had gone out and purchased a bunch of Quidditch books to study the ins and outs of the game. Last week Burt had ordered Kurt a brand new broom so that he wouldn't have to use the school brooms. It was a Lightning Strike 3000, currently the fastest broom ever to have been manufactured. Both Burt and Carole would be at Kurt's first game.

"Of course I know what a Wronski Feint is," Blaine said, scowling, and Kurt had to resist the urge to smile, not that he enjoyed when Blaine was angry at him, because he didn't. It was just that Blaine looked so damn cute when he was angry and flustered. Blaine continued: "But you started from over one hundred feet in the air, Kurt! I thought you were going to crash…" Breathing heavily, he dropped his head into his hands.

"Hey," Kurt said softly, taking pity on him. "I didn't mean to scare you. I wouldn't have done it if I didn't think that I could." He leaned down to put a hand on Blaine's shoulder.

"I know," Blaine said, looking up. He looked less frantic but there were still traces of fear in his eyes. "But seeing you do it… I just…" He took a breath. "Can you just sit with me for a minute?"

Kurt was about to remind Blaine that grass and Kurt Hummel's clothing did not mix when Blaine shrugged his jacket off and placed it on the ground beside him. With a sigh, Kurt lowered himself to sit on it.

"You can't keep doing this, you know," Kurt chastised Blaine. "It's cold out here and you need to wear a jacket."

Blaine stubbornly shook his head. "It's not cold, it's just a bit nippy."

"Nippy, Blaine? Who talks like that?" Kurt wondered before getting back to the task at hand: "You're going to get sick."

"I'm okay," Blaine insisted even as he shivered. Folding his arms, he placed both hands underneath his armpits to keep them warm.

"Dummy," Kurt muttered as he slung a arm around Blaine's shoulders, rubbing up and down to circulate warmth. Blaine sighed and snuggled his body against Kurt's. Kurt shook his head. "When you get a cold," he began in a warning tone.

"It'll have been worth it," Blaine cut him off. "I think you might have broken a record with that dive."

"Think it'll make me famous?" Kurt asked jokingly.

"No, because in order for that to happen you'd have to do it again to prove that you could and I'd really rather you didn't. Much better for my nerves."

Kurt rolled his eyes. "I was completely fine."

"I wasn't," Blaine said. "Besides, if you do it again, I just might _die_. And that would be really bad because we all know the sun gets it's light-power from my bright smile," Blaine leaned up a little to demonstrate said smile, screwing his face up as he did so. "And once the sun is gone, everyone else in the world will freeze to death and also, quite tragically, die. And the world will become a barren waste land, void of any living creatures save all those icky cockroaches, and let's face it, nobody likes those things. And all of this will have been _your _fault because you killed me with your insensitivity towards my poor, poor nerves."

"You're so dramatic," Kurt said rolling his eyes, though he couldn't help the chuckle that found it's way past his lips.

They were both quiet for a moment, lost in their own thoughts. Kurt was trying his hardest not to think of how perfectly Blaine's head fit in that juncture between Kurt's neck and shoulder. Or how downy-soft Blaine's curls felt again Kurt's cheek. He wanted so badly to turn his head and press his lips against Blaine's hair. He didn't even think Blaine would mind all that much. But Kurt knew that if he did it, it wouldn't stop there.

Because once Kurt's stolen kiss registered in Blaine's mind, Blaine would look at Kurt with that wide eyed and innocent, but also slightly frightened and uncertain, look on his face. They would stare at each other and it wouldn't be long at all before Kurt was unable to stop himself from corrupting the innocence in that look. The need to _force_ Blaine to see how perfect they could be together would be much too strong. So Kurt would brush his lips against both of Blaine's eyes, his cheeks, his nose, and finally his lips, and it would feel amazing and horrible at the same time because that look on Blaine's face would remain, his features frozen that way for the rest of forever, haunting Kurt over the fact that he stole what was never his to take.

But then, just maybe it wouldn't be that way. Maybe Kurt would kiss Blaine and it would all be okay…

Kurt dropped his head in his hand. He needed to stop thinking about this. For his own sanity he needed to stop seeing every second he spent with Blaine as an opportunity to possibly change Blaine's mind about not wanting to become a couple. It hurt too much. And Blaine wasn't ready. Even Kurt's daydreams knew that or else they wouldn't have such bittersweet endings.

Blaine frowned at Kurt. "Are you nervous about the game on Saturday?" he asked, obviously misinterpreting Kurt's upset.

But that was okay, because Kurt didn't mind blaming his troubles on Quidditch.

First games and nerves.

They were such uncomplicated subjects, and given the rather complicated state of his life, Kurt naturally latched on to them.

"A bit," he said, surprising himself with his own ability to sound completely believable. "I've only practiced with the snitch a couple times."

"Yeah, but you were great," Blaine insisted. "Taking less than fifteen minutes to make a catch is really good. And the fact that you've managed to catch the Snitch in less than fifteen minutes all five times you've practiced with it is even better."

"How would you know I practiced with the Snitch five times?" Kurt asked with a raised brow, knowing for a fact that he had only practiced with the Snitch twice in Blaine's presence. "What, are you stalking me now?"

Blaine's not so innocent grin was all the conformation Kurt needed. "Stalking is such a strong word."

Kurt snorted. "Creeper."

Blaine laughed and settled his head back against Kurt's shoulder. "I like watching you fly. You look so happy." He poked Kurt in the ribs. "And when you're happy, I'm happy, remember?"

_God, Blaine, don't do this to me…_ Kurt thought desperately. He could already feel that telltale pressure behind his eyes. He needed to get out.

"We should get going before you freeze to death," he said as he jostled his shoulder a little to signal that Blaine should get up.

"I'm not cold," Blaine insisted before shivering violently when a gust of wind blew.

"Liar," Kurt accused.

"Okay, maybe I'm a little cold," Blaine allowed as he finally leaned up and then got to his feet. Once he was standing he leaned down to offer Kurt a hand, which he accepted, making sure to grab Blaine's jacket on the way up. He tried not to let the fact that Blaine had released Kurt's hand as soon as Kurt was on his feet get to him.

"Thank you for letting me use this as a guard against dirt stains," Kurt said, holding out Blaine's jacket. "Again."

Blaine grinned and shrugged his jacket on. "You're welcome. Sorry for tackling you before."

Kurt frowned. "Yeah, why did you do that exactly?" he asked as they made their way back towards the castle.

"I didn't mean to," Blaine said, looking a bit guilty. "I was just trying to run over here was fast as I could in case you needed something to break your fall. I guess I was going so fast that I couldn't stop before I slammed into you."

Kurt looked at Blaine skeptically. "So… at the speed I was going, you thought it would be a good idea for you to just jump in front of me so I could plow you into the ground?"

Blaine frowned adorably. "Well, when you put it like that…"

"It sounds incredibly stupid?" Kurt suggested.

"See, that's just mean," Blaine said, pouting.

"You and that lip," Kurt muttered in an exasperated tone.

"Create an explosion of cuteness!" Blaine threw his arms out to demonstrate his point.

"You're insane," Kurt said seriously.

Blaine frowned. "My bluteness is not to be underestimated, Kurt."

Oh, boy. "Bluteness?" Kurt asked, though he was pretty sure he would be better off not knowing.

"My name," Blaine tapped his pointer finger, "plus cuteness," he tapped his middle finger, "equals bluteness."

Kurt stared mutely at Blaine for about half a minute before Kurt finally found his voice. "Okay, you are hereby prohibited from spending time alone with Nick and Jeff. Obviously they are corrupting your mind. Bluteness? What the hell _is_ that?"

"I told you, Kurt, it's-"

"Yeah, I got it," Kurt interrupted with a roll of his eyes. "God, Blaine, you are _so_ ridiculous."

"Yeah, but you love me," he grinned.

The smile on Kurt's face fell immediately. Blaine, however, was looking straight ahead and had missed the look. Kurt chalked that up to small favors. "Maybe," he whispered honestly.

* * *

><p>"Alright, there's no need to be nervous," Blaine said to Kurt and the rest of the Ravenclaw team, who were all scattered around the changing room dressed and ready to go. "Win or lose, you have performed amazingly as a team, and I'm proud to be its captain."<p>

"Pfft!" Nick laughed. "Win or lose? We're playing _Hufflepuff,_ for Merlin's sake. When was the last time they won a game?"

"Spring of 2000, score 280 to 50," Wes stated immediately.

"You didn't even need to think about that, did you?" Nick asked dryly. "That's sick."

Daniel Sanborn, the team's Keeper, raised his hand. "Umm…no offense to you or anything," he said to Wes, "but why are you even here? You're not on the team."

Wes ignored Daniel to glare at Nick. "It is my job as announcer to know things like that, Nicholas."

"Doesn't make it any less sad that you do, _Wesley_," Nick shot back.

"Thanks for clearing that up, then," Daniel rolled his eyes as Wes and Nick continued trading insults with each other.

Usually Jeff would be backing Nick up, but he was too busy trying and failing to flirt with Rick More, whose name was actually Abigail More. Why everyone called her Rick, Kurt had no idea. Daniel had been brave enough to ask her about it once, but he had barely gotten the words out before Rick pulled her arm back and punched him square in the nose. Apparently it was a touchy subject for her and one that was strictly off limits.

"Okay!" Blaine said loudly before the team could get completely out of control. "Let's just have a good time, yeah?"

"And while we're having a good time," Nick announced. "Let's make sure to win."

Jeff finally turned his attention away from Rick. "Though I'm sure we will anyway, since we all know our dear Blainey-baby has a personal vendetta against the Hufflepuff's Keeper."

Kurt turned to glare at Jeff, knowing where this was going.

Blaine rolled his eyes. "I do _not_ have a personal vendetta against Sean Paplosky."

"Pfft!" Nick laughed again. "Sure, you don't. I'm sure we all just imagined how you constantly refer to him as 'that Paplosky bloke'."

"Which is very undapper of you, by the way," Jeff pointed out.

"Or how you get that lemon twisting look on your face whenever someone so much as mentions his name."

"I don't-" Blaine began, but Nick cut him off.

"Or how your face gets Kurt Gone Mental Red whenever he says hi to Kurt in Transfiguration."

Blaine frowned. "What's Kurt Gone-" He started, but got caught off again. It was Jeff this time:

"But I'm sure we can clear this whole mess up once and for all." The blonde leaned forward to peer around Jenna Rotz (Chaser) at Kurt. "Kurt, do you fancy Sean Paplosky?"

The whole team, Blaine included, turned to look at Kurt.

Kurt rolled his eyes. "_No._ Last time I checked, I went on a date with Blaine, not with Sean. Can we _not_ have this conversation again?"

Jeff looked smugly at their captain. "There, Blaine, you see? You have no reason to hate poor ickle Sean."

Blaine scowled. "I don't hate Sean," he mumbled none too convincingly.

"Of course you do!" Nick insisted as he whacked Jeff upside the head. "Don't listen to this idiot, Blaine. And Kurt is a conniving little liar. He wants Sean, I can feel it. And Sean, sneaky little bastard that he is, has been putting the moves on your should-be-man, Blaine! So you just go right ahead and do everything within your power to send that Quaffle right through that little fucker's should-be-boyfriend stealing head with as much force as that little body of yours can muster."

"I'm not _that _little," Blaine grumbled adorably.

With his jaw locked, Kurt glared at Nick. "Are you forgetting what happened to you the last time you pissed me off?"

Nick squealed and covered his nose with both hands. "You stay away from my nose, Hummel."

Daniel looked between his teammates with a truly bewildered expression on his face. "I am seriously beginning to wonder why I joined this team. You're all mental."

"You get used to them," Jenna quipped. "All of the sixth year boys are like that. It must be something in their water."

"Hey," Kurt protested. "Innocent bystander here."

No one looked like they believed him. Kurt rolled his eyes. "That figures."

David ran into the changing rooms. "What the hell are you lot doing in here? Madam Hooch called Ravenclaw onto the pitch twice already and she doesn't look like she appreciates being ignored."

"Just great," Blaine sighed. "I'll go talk her down. Hurry up and get out there as fast as possible. Jeff, Nick, I'm blaming this on you two."

"Alright!" Jeff grinned as if that were some sort of accomplishment.

David looked at Wes. "You better hurry up, too. Crazy Eyes is trying to talk McGonagall into taking over for you as the announcer."

Wes was on his feet immediately. "Over my dead body."

Nick smirked at Jeff. "So much pent up sexual frustration."

"He's just begging for some liquid courage."

"And who needs firewhisky when you've got love potions?"

"Soon?"

"Most definitely soon."

But Wes was already heading out of the room with David and Blaine right behind him and hadn't heard the exchange.

Rick (who was co-captain as well as Chaser) stood up to address the team. She was a tall girl and had the intimidation factor down to a tee. "Alright, people, you heard Blaine. Let's move it before we get disqualified for idiocy."

Kurt's stomach chose that moment to drop down to the floor. Because this was finally happening. In less than five minutes he was going to be flying around on a broom as the entire school, plus his father and Carole, watched from the stands. If ever Kurt had needed to hold Blaine's hand, now was the time. And Blaine wasn't even there.

Kurt followed his team out of the locker room with his eyes wide open and his limbs stiff as tree trunks. He clutched his broom handle tightly with both hands.

Madam Hooch, Blaine, and the Hufflepuff team were waiting at the center of the pitch. Blaine and the Hufflepuff captain stood facing each other.

As soon was the Ravenclaws were positioned around Blaine, Madam Hooch turned her yellow eyes on them. "If the Ravenclaw team doesn't mind, I'd like to get the game started now," she said in a clipped tone. "Unless you would all rather forfeit, that is?"

"Actually, I need one second," Blaine spoke up before turning and closing the small distance between himself and Kurt.

Madam Hooch's mouth dropped open in disbelief.

Kurt looked at Blaine with wide, nervous eyes and Blaine smiled at him. "You're amazing, Kurt, and you can do this." Then Blaine reached up and covered one of Kurt's hands with his own. Kurt's face washed with color.

"I am _still _waiting, Mr. Anderson!" Madam Hooch said with impatience.

Blaine smiled at him for another second before pulling away and hurrying back to his former position. "I apologize. We're ready now."

Madam Hooch rolled her eyes. "Never in all my years at Hogwarts," she muttered. "Let's just make this quick. I want a clean game from _everyone_," she said, turning to stare at Nick and Jeff, who did their best to gape innocently at her. "Especially after all today's nonsense. Now captains shake hands." Both did so. "Players mount your brooms."

With shaking hands, Kurt did as he was told. He felt torn. On one hand, the waiting was making him insane and they needed to just frigging start already. On the other he would have been quite at his leisure to stand there all day.

But then Madam Hooch blew her whistle obnoxiously loud as she simultaneously threw the Quaffle up into the air and controlled chaos ensued as fourteen players kicked off from the ground at once.

"The Quaffle is released into the air and is taken by Ravenclaw Captain and Chaser Blaine Anderson in a brilliant show of skill," Wes' amplified voice announced.

"A brilliancy which is marred by the fact that neither Blaine Anderson nor his fellow teammates seem to possess enough decency to present themselves to the field after being called _three times in a row_," Rachel's voice sounded, though it was muffled.

"Excuse me, Berry, but _I _am commentator here," Wes snapped.

"Yes," Rachel said in an equally snappish voice, "but like your house team, _you _also failed to report to your post on time, which leads me to conclude that you have no regard for punctuality whatsoever."

"Why, you little-"

"Berry! Montgomery! That's _enough_!" McGonagall's voice broke through the argument.

"Professor, I was merely pointing out how unprofessional it is to show up late to one's-"

McGonagall cut Rachel off. "Berry, so help me, pipe down, _sit down_ and let Montgomery do his job! Honestly, once Lee Jordan graduated I thought I'd be done arguing with overzealous Quidditch commentators!"

Kurt tried to push the verbal sparing match to the back of his mind as he searched for the tiny Golden Snitch. His tactic was to fly slow and have his eyes do all of the fast moving until he spotted what he was looking for. It was a technique that had worked well for him during practice, but with so many other people flying around, the cheering crowd, Puck's rainbow colored DO WHAT YOU WERE BORN TO DO AND RIDE THE SHIT OUT OF THAT BROOM, HUMMEL! sign, Nick and Jeff's cackling as they sent Bludgers flying every which way, and the ongoing argument between Wes, Rachel, and Professor McGonagall, there were plenty of things to distract him. Not to mention that Blaine looked totally hot with his intensely concentrated face on as he zoomed around the pitch and quite mercilessly scored on poor Sean.

Not to mention that Kurt might have been slightly giddy over the fact that Blaine had taken the time to give Kurt some encouragement before the game began.

But now wasn't the time to think about all that. Now was the time to focus because even though Blaine and the girls were dominating over the Hufflepuff Chasers, and Daniel was proving himself to be just as skilled at defending the goal posts during an actual game as he was during practice, Kurt still had to catch the Snitch in order to end the game.

But finding the Snitch was proving to be difficult to find. The game had been going on for almost thirty minutes now and Kurt hadn't seen so much as a glimpse of the little ball.

And then suddenly McGonagall exploded. "_NOAH PUCKERMAN_!" she screeched at what was quite possibly the top of her lungs. With a livid expression on her face that was discernable even from Kurt's high position in the air, she and everyone else watched as Puck's sign flashed in all its rainbow colored glory.

Kurt went red as a tomato when people turned to look and point at him. Several people, including Puck, ass that he was, were laughing.

Thankfully he wasn't the center of attention for long because Professor McGogagall had started screaming again: "WHAT IN _MERLIN'S_ NAME-? YOU TAKE THAT SIGN DOWN THIS VERY INSTANT!" she roared, which was pretty impressive because by now she was no where near the voice amplifier in the commentator's box. She was marching her way towards the Gryffindor stands, her face bright red with anger.

Still laughing like a madman, Puck took off running (as if that would save him), but Kurt hardly cared about any of that because not two seconds before Puck sprinted away, Kurt spotted the Snitch floating over his head.

He didn't know where the Hufflepuff Seeker was and quite frankly, he didn't care. The only thing he knew as he crouched low on his broom and sped off was that he was going to catch that stupid little golden ball if it was the last thing he ever did.

When his fingers closed over their intended target, the crowd erupted with cheers.

Wes started talking a mile a minute. "The Snitch is caught by Kurt Hummel and-"

"And Ravenclaw wins 240 to 20!" Rachel squealed, cutting into Wes' commentary.

"_I _am the announcer!" Wes protested, sounding absolutely livid.

Kurt hardly noticed, though, because the entire Ravenclaw team rushed him on their brooms.

"Kurt!" was all Blaine was able to say before Nick and Jeff abandoned their brooms to jump onto Kurt's. Kurt shrieked in protest but he couldn't stop laughing as the two of them wrapped their arms around him in an extremely awkward hug.

Somehow, Kurt managed to fly his broom down to the ground without too much difficulty given the fact that there were three people on it. He was in the middle of trying to detangle himself from Nick and Jeff when he heard his father's voice for the first time in almost three months.

"Dad!" he grinned as he ran over to his father and threw his arms around Burt Hummel's neck.

Burt made a soft "Oomph!" sound when Kurt knocked into him but hugged his son back without hesitation. "You did amazing, kid. I can't believe you were _flying._"

"Thanks, Dad," Kurt smiled. "And thanks for the broom."

"Your welcome, kid."

Carole stopped beside the hugging pair. "Don't hog him all to yourself, now," she admonished her husband and Kurt released his father to give his stepmother a hug too. She squeezed him tight and kissed his cheek. "Hi, sweetie. How are you doing?"

"Good," Kurt assured her. "I love it here. Hogwarts is absolutely amazing."

She pulled away from the hug but remained close. "Would that have anything to do with the boy you went on a date with? Blaine?" she asked in a low enough tone so that Burt wouldn't hear, though it was obvious that he was trying to listen in.

Kurt sighed. "I wish."

"Give it time, love. Is he here? Your father and I would love to meet him."

"Meet who?" Burt asked gruffly.

"Kurt's friend, Blaine. And don't think I didn't see you trying to eavesdrop."

"Did no such thing," Burt muttered.

Carole rolled her eyes affectionately at her husband and Burt smiled at her a little shyly. Kurt watched the exchange with eager interest. He loved seeing his father so happy.

Carole turned back to Kurt after kissing her husband's cheek, causing Burt to blush profusely. "So…? Can we meet him?"

Kurt was just about to say that he would go find him when Blaine's hand gently fell on Kurt's shoulder. Burt stared at Blaine's hand with his eyebrows raised and his lips pressed tightly together.

But if Blaine noticed Burt's look, he didn't let it show as he grinned happily at Kurt. "Kurt, you were absolutely amazing!" Blaine congratulated him before turning to smile at Kurt's parents. "You must be Mr. and Mrs. Hummel," he said as he removed his hand from Kurt's shoulder to hold it out for Burt and Carole to shake. "I'm Kurt's friend, Blaine."

"So you're the one who took my kid out on a date?" Burt asked, not one to beat around the bush.

"Dad!" Kurt exclaimed.

But Blaine just kept on smiling. "Yes, sir, I am. But Kurt and I are just really good friends."

Burt rose an eyebrow in a way that reminded Kurt remarkably of himself. "Seems to me that people who are 'just friends' don't take each other out on dates."

"Dad," Kurt said again, this time through his teeth.

"Not usually, sir, no. But Kurt and I have a really unique friendship," Blaine explained with his usual quirkiness and enthusiasm.

Kurt had to refrain from face palming. Blaine was just being Blaine, of course. But Burt certainly wouldn't get that. Desperately, Kurt looked to his stepmother for some help, and Carole, being the truly amazing woman that she was, instantly got the message.

It was a good thing, too, because now Burt's jaw was locked and starting to protrude slightly.

"So Blaine," Carole interjected, "you're on the Quidditch team, too? You played Chaser, right?"

"Yes, ma'am."

Carole smiled kindly at him. "Call me Carole, sweetie. You were very good."

"Thank you, Carole," Blaine grinned and Kurt had to wonder whether Blaine was aware of how charming he was.

"Blaine's the captain," Kurt explained.

"Oh? Your parents must be very proud," Carole said, and Kurt froze. "Are they here?" she asked, looking around.

Blaine, to his credit, didn't so much as wince. "No. They have to work on Saturdays, so they aren't able to come to any of my games."

"That's too bad," Carole said sincerely. She didn't mention that both she and Burt typically worked Saturdays and Kurt loved her for it. "I'm sure they wish they could be here."

"I'm sure they do, too," Blaine said immediately, but this time Kurt could hear the strain in his voice, and discretely, so his father wouldn't see, Kurt reached out with his pinky finger and brushed the back of Blaine's hand. Blaine acknowledged the gesture by curling their fingers together for a few seconds.

"Well, I'll let you guys catch up," Blaine said with a polite smile. "It was very nice to have met you both."

As soon as Blaine was far enough away, Carole grinned at Kurt. "He's very hansom."

Kurt grinned back. "Yes, I think so."

Burt snorted. "I don't know nothing about 'hansom', but I'd say his eyes are too close together. He's too… _nice_."

Carole rolled her eyes. "Yes, and 'nice' is a good thing."

Burt didn't look convinced. "You watch yourself, kid. You make sure he treats you right."

Kurt shook his head. "He treats me just fine, Dad."

"Good," Burt nodded. "Then I wont have to break out my shot gun."

* * *

><p>Almost a week later, Kurt walked out of Ancient Runes only to stop short when he noticed that Blaine wasn't standing in his usual spot waiting for Kurt.<p>

Santana stopped to stand next to him as Kurt stared blankly at the wall. "What's up with that, Hummel?" she asked, jerking her chin towards where Kurt was staring. "I was beginning to think that Anderson was a permanent wall fixture there or something."

"I don't know," Kurt said. It was true. He had absolutely no idea where Blaine was. Even during those couple of weeks when things had been awkward between them, Blaine had always been waiting for Kurt after Ancient Runes.

Professor Schuester came out with his carrier bag slung over his shoulder. He frowned at the wall Kurt and Santana were staring at. "No Blaine today, Kurt? Did you guys get into a fight or something?"

Santana and Kurt exchanged a quick look. Santana's face had 'what the fuck' written all over it.

"Not that I know of," Kurt said with a small frown. Professor Schue was just being nice, of course, but it was still a little strange to have a teacher inquire after his personal life.

Professor Schue gave him an apologetic smile and clapped him on the back. "Well, I'm sure there's an explanation for it. Blaine doesn't seem like the type to ditch you without a good reason. Try not to hold it against him. You guys are too good together to let something small get in the way."

Kurt just barely refrained from raising his eyebrows at his teacher. "Uh… thanks."

Santana, on the other hand, was openly staring at the man as if she had never seen him before.

Professor Schue didn't seem to get it, though. "No problem, Kurt. I'm here if you ever need to talk. I'll see you both on Monday."

As soon as Schue was far enough away, Kurt turned to Santana. "Does _everyone_ think Blaine and I are a couple?"

Santana snorted. "Well, you should be. Anderson is a moron."

Kurt snorted. "Well, I guess I'll go see if I can find him." He'd look in the Tower first. Going to the Room of Requirement without Blaine would feel too weird. So he'd avoid going there unless he absolutely had to.

Santana wished him luck before going to find Brittany and Kurt went in the opposite direction. He was about one fourth of the way there when he heard Nick calling his name. He stopped to allow the Beater to catch up with him.

"Blaine sent me to tell you that he needed to talk to Professor Vector about something and that he'll meet you in the common room."

"Oh," Kurt said. At least he wasn't being ditched. He leaned around Nick to peer at the empty hallway behind the other boy. "Where's Jeff? I didn't think either of you would be able to survive if the other was more than an arm's reach away." He couldn't recall one single time where he had seen one without the other.

Nick scowled at the mention of his best friend's name. "Who knows? He took off after class."

Ah. So Nick was in one of _those_ moods. Ever since Kurt and Blaine's fight, Nick would randomly get really short tempered with everyone. And when he wasn't griping about the fact that Kurt and Blaine were still only 'just friends', he was gripping at Jeff about… something. Kurt had never figured out exactly what, though he got the feeling that the rest of the boys knew.

"I see," Kurt said in what he hoped was a neutral tone. "Well, I'm going to head back to the Tower, then. You coming?"

Still frowning a bit, Nick said, "Yeah."

They took one of Blaine's short cuts. They were about two halls away from their destination when they stumbled upon a sight that made them both stop short. "Oh," Kurt said softly as he watched Jeff and some Hufflepuff girl whose name Kurt didn't know kiss each other furiously up against the castle wall. The girl was quite a bit shorter than Jeff - he _was_ a tall guy, after all - and she had accommodated for their height difference by wrapping her legs around Jeff's waist. He supported her weight by cupping his hands under her ass.

At first Kurt was too shocked by the intimate display to do much more than stare stupidly at it, but when the couple started rutting against each other and moaning into each other's mouths, he remembered himself. "Let's get out of-" he began, but the positively furious look on Nick's face stopped him.

"What a fucking idiot," Nick said without bothering to keep his voice down. Kurt's eyes flared wide and his whipped his head back in the other direction to see if either Jeff or the girl had heard, but neither gave any indication that they had. He took that as a small favor.

"Nick, we should go." He absolutely did not want to get caught watching. That would be incredibly awkward for everyone. "We can take the long way back to the Tower."

For a second, Kurt thought that Nick was going to ignore him, but with one final look of disgust at the moaning couple, he turned furiously away and stalked down the hall with his hands balled into fists at his side. Kurt ran to catch up with the slightly shorter boy.

"So…" he said when they were a far enough distance away. "Are you going to tell me what that was about?"

"That was about Nick being an idiot."

Kurt glanced sideways at the still seething boy. "Yes, you said that already. Care to tell me why you think that?"

Nick made a guttural noise of pure frustration at the back of his throat. Almost like a growl. "Because he's hurting himself," he said as they stopped at the Tower's entrance.

Kurt answered the Riddle quickly and the doors opened. Nick stalked inside, and again, Kurt had to run to catch up to him. "It didn't look that way to me," Kurt said gently.

Nick rounded angrily on him. "Well, it's not like you would know anything about it either way!" he exploded.

All noise and movement in the Ravenclaw common room ceased as everyone stopped what they were doing to look at the two boys.

Kurt stared mutely at his roommate. He had never seen Nick so angry before.

And then suddenly Blaine was standing between Nick and Kurt. He seemed to come out of nowhere. "What the hell was that?" he demanded loudly. Kurt noticed a couple of people stand from their tables and walk quickly towards the dormitory stairs.

Nick glared at Blaine. "Nothing. Mind your own bloody business and back the fuck up, Blaine, before you do something you'll regret."

A truly dangerous look came over Blaine's face that Kurt decided he absolutely did not like. The flames on several candles flared and Kurt swore he head the sound of cracking glass but he didn't look to confirm it. More people rushed to the stairs. The younger kids either looked scared or confused.

Kurt forced his way between the two boys. "Stop it," he ordered them both. To Blaine specifically, who was looking angrier by the second, Kurt said, "It's _fine._"

Blaine didn't so much as glance in Kurt's direction as he stared Nick down. "No, Kurt, it's not. He had no right to speak to you like that. He needs to apologize."

Kurt opened his mouth to tell Blaine that he could take care of himself, thank you very much, but Nick beat him to it.

"For fuck's sake! Kurt isn't a baby! He's a big fucking boy, Blaine, and he doesn't need you to follow him around and protect him from every little thing! And the sooner you pull that obnoxiously large head out of your tight ass and realize that, the sooner you get to actually be happy for once!"

The candles flared again. There was a cold look in Blaine's eyes. "You have no idea-" he began but Nick cut him off with a vicious snort.

"Don't you _dare_ tell me I have no idea what I'm talking about, Blaine! Don't. You. _Dare_. You guys are my friends, and I'm the one who has to sit here and watch as you both royally fuck up your lives. And you know what? You're _both_ idiots. You and Jeff. Whatever." He pushed past Kurt and stormed out of the Tower.

Blaine watched him go with raised eyebrows, the anger completely gone from his face. As if it had never been there. "Jeff? What is he talking about?"

Kurt sighed. "We saw him kissing some Hufflepuff girl. Nick got upset."

Blaine sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Well, that explains things."

"Explains what?" Kurt asked. "He's not… I mean, Nick doesn't _like_ Jeff, does he? I thought they were both straight."

"They are," Blaine said as he made his way towards the staircase that would lead them to the dorms. Kurt followed. "Or Nick is at least."

"What are you saying? That Jeff is gay?"

Blaine put his bag down on his trunk and Kurt mimicked his actions.

"I don't know for sure what Jeff's sexual orientation is," Blaine explained as he flopped onto his bed. He arranged himself comfortably on his back and tossed an arm over his eyes. "He won't really get into it, but he says he's straight. He has also been in love with Thad since second year."

Kurt moved to sit on the edge of Blaine's bed. "You're kidding. Does Thad know?"

Blaine removed his arm from his face to peer up and Kurt and nodded his head.

"So, you mean to tell me that all those times Jeff asked Thad out, he was being serious?"

Blaine frowned. "Well, I don't know if you could call it 'serious.' When he asks, he knows Thad will say no, so he's sort of made it into a joke."

"Jesus."

"Huh?"

Kurt waved his hand dismissively. "It's a muggle religious thing. So, Thad must not feel the same, then. If he knows how Jeff feels but always turns him down."

Blaine grimaced. "It's not that simple."

Did _all_ of the sixth year Ravenclaw boys have complicated relationships? "How is it not that simple? If Jeff is in love with Thad and Thad loves him back then…" Kurt trailed off with a shrug. He sensed that this conversation was going to get complicated. Blaine seemed to sense it too.

The curly haired boy shook his head. "You're thinking of everything in terms of black or white. But life's not like that. There are shades of gray."

Kurt didn't back down. "I disagree. The gray area isn't about what makes seemingly simple situations complicated. The gray area is about taking the chance that everything might work out in the end despite the complications."

Blaine leaned up on his elbows. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that seeing a situation as completely hopeless just because there are some complications is the same thing as seeing the world in all black or all white, all good or all bad, all hopeless or not at all. You're not taking the gray areas into account that maybe those complications can be worked around or even overcome. Nothing is completely hopeless," Kurt said, surprising himself. He wondered when he had started to view the world that way.

Looking into Blaine's eyes, he realized that it was because of Blaine. Without even knowing it, Blaine had somehow made an insecure boy not only feel more secure about himself, but also more secure about the world around him.

For the first time in Kurt's entire life, he was okay. He was happy. He had friends. Blaine had helped to give him those things and Kurt realized that he loved him for it. He _loved _Blaine.

The sudden desire to express that emotion took hold of him in a way far stronger than Kurt would have expected to. Almost, on its own accord, his body started leaning down. Blaine stayed completely still and searched Kurt's eyes. Kurt wondered whether or not Blaine could see the love Kurt felt for him there.

"Kurt…" Blaine said just when Kurt could feel Blaine's warm breath on his lips. It made them tingle. Kurt stopped.

_He's not ready_, Kurt whispered to himself. But out loud he whispered, "Kiss me."

And just like that, Blaine did.

With a little whining sound that vocalized the desperation weighing down Kurt's stomach, Blaine kissed him, and it was unlike anything Kurt had ever imagined.

Their lips slid together in a way that Kurt could only describe as beautiful. It made his stomach dip and a puddle of pleasure pool between his legs. When Blaine's hand came up to cradle Kurt's head, Kurt moaned softly, and Blaine responded with a delicious sound that enticed Kurt to moan once more.

Then Blaine tilted his head the opposite way and wrapped both his lips around Kurt's bottom one and _sucked_. Kurt gasped. And then Blaine's tongue found his and Kurt saw white, black, and every shade of gray in between.

And then it was gone because Blaine ripped his mouth away.

In seconds, Blaine was off the bed and on his feet, and without Blaine's body to lean on, Kurt fell forward onto the pillows. Breathing heavily, he sensed that everything was about to go horribly wrong.

_Don't look at him_, Kurt cautioned himself.

But he looked. Of course he looked. He had to in the same way that he had been compelled to kiss Blaine.

And his heart broke quite possibly into a million tiny, little pieces.

With his lips swollen and his beautiful curls mussed, Blaine was looking at Kurt in a way that made Kurt feel completely ashamed of himself. Because for once, Blaine didn't have that guilty look on his face. Instead of guilt, there was betrayal in his eyes. And it was directed right at Kurt.

Neither of them spoke. There was nothing to say, really. The dark emotions had resonated in the air to the point where words would have been completely useless anyway.

And then Blaine turned and walked away. He made it look so easy.

Long after Blaine was gone, Kurt remained motionless on Blaine's bed until the tears grew cold on his waxy skin.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: So we have the tip of the iceberg. Things are going to be tense between the boys next chapter. You'll get to see a bit about what Blaine was thinking both during the kiss and after it. Other than that I don't want to give too much away. **

**On a less dramatic note, I couldn't help myself from drawing a picture of Kurt and Blaine decked out in Hogwarts robes, so if you're interested in seeing it, you can go to my deviant art page: **

**Http:/s-cerez(.)deviantart(.)com/#/d4aa2xj**

**Just take out the parenthesis.**

**So as always, thank you for reading, and I would (of course) love to know what you thought of the chapter! **

**Hopefully I'll be able to update quicker this time because of the Jewish holiday and all. **

**-Cerez**


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: Since we have only seen the one Klaine kiss, we can all safely assume I have not been given ownership rights of _Glee_. And as far as _Harry Potter_ goes, seeing as how I still only have about five dollars in my bank account, I seriously doubt I own that either.

**A/N: I am SUPER nervous about this chapter. It's incredibly angsty. It might be frustrating to read (it was certainly frustrating to write), but please, please read to the end.**

* * *

><p>With one kiss everything had gone right to hell.<p>

As Blaine fled from the room, from Kurt, and from the things that Kurt made him feel, Blaine could hear a kind of roaring in his ears, which quickly turned into screams that mocked and haunted him. He fucking hated it. He hated how familiar those screams were. He hated himself for his inability to control his emotions and desires, and a small part of him even hated Kurt for so obviously loving him, because Blaine couldn't reciprocate those feelings - it would be too dangerous. For both Kurt and Blaine. But most especially for Kurt.

Once he was out of the Tower, Blaine's feet carried him to a secret place without his consent. Or, at least it certainly felt that way.

On some level he knew he should take responsibility for what he was about to do, but that would hurt too much. Plain and simple. Denial was the better option by far, and he had gotten quite good at it over the years.

Blaine ignored Myrtle when he saw her and instead headed straight for the collection of sinks at the center of the rarely used washroom. He fingered the snake on the faucet as he spoke the words that felt like slime on his tongue.

Chase was exactly where Blaine thought he would be, as if the Slytherin somehow knew that Blaine would show up.

From his place lying stretched out on the filthy, muddy floor in front of the massive statue of Salazar Slytherin, Case leaned up on his elbows and regarded Blaine with cold eyes. It had always disturbed Blaine to no end that Chase could have a lie-in in a place like this, but then again, Chase Dare certainly wasn't in his right mind.

"Come to suck me off, have you?" Chase asked without preamble.

Blaine flinched at the abruptness.

Chase rolled his eyes. "Oh, come on, Blaine. Don't act all innocent and corrupted. We both knew you'd be down here eventually."

_Oh, Merlin, what am I doing?_ Blaine thought. He felt sick. Absolutely sick. Hadn't he told himself that he was better than this? That he wouldn't be back? And yet here he was. When it came down to it, he truly was pathetic, wasn't he?

"I kissed him," Blaine blurted out.

Chase barked out a laugh. "Merlin, Blaine, you _are_ fucked up, aren't you? I thought you liked him."

"I do," Blaine whispered.

Chase sat up all the way, a vicious look on his face. "Then you had better leave him alone before you kill him like that poor tosser, what's-his-name."

Again, Blaine flinched. "I didn't kill-"

"You fucking might as well have!" Chase yelled. Then his features softened to cold indifference. "Whatever. Just get over here."

Blaine didn't move. "If Kurt found out, it would hurt him."

"So? It's better if he hates you anyway. I'm all you've got."

"Aren't you afraid I'll tell people about us? I could, you know," Blaine threatened, even though he knew it was an empty one.

Chase laughed. "You go right ahead and do that if you like. You think I give a fuck what people think of me? Who I fuck is my business. If people don't like it, too bad."

"And Lila?"

"I don't give a fuck about that silly bint. She knows it, and I know it. And you know it, too." Chase snorted. "Your excuses are even more pathetic than usual, Blaine. We both know you won't say one damn thing. You care too much about your reputation and being perfect, Prefect, little Blaine when you and I both know that you're just as fucked in the head as I am. At least I'm brave enough to admit it."

"I _hate_ you," Blaine said.

"Good. If you cared about me then it would probably be _me_ holed up St. Mungo's Hospital, pissing on myself everyday because I don't know what's up from down. But we can save that glorious fate for Hummel, if you want. If not, then you can stop complaining, because like I said before, I'm all you've got. _No one_ is going to accept someone like you. I'm the closest thing you'll ever get to love, so either stop wasting my time and do what you came here for or fuck off."

Chase grinned triumphantly when Blaine walked slowly forward.

* * *

><p>It was a long time it finally occurred to Kurt that he should probably get off Blaine's bed. His body felt so much heavier than Kurt knew it ought to, but he forced himself to sit up anyway. Once he was sitting he looked down and noticed that he had left a damp mess of tears on Blaine's pillow, so he gingerly reached out and turned it over.<p>

That done, he got up to shuffle across the room and sit on his own bed. A quick glance at the clock told him that he had missed Herbology, which was fine. The very last thing he wanted was for people to see him all puffy eyed and red nosed. He would just find Professor Longbottom later and say that he hadn't been feeling well.

With absolutely nothing left to distract him, Kurt thought about his first kiss without really wanting to. He wondered how he was supposed to deal with how horribly it had ended. He would always remember that his first kiss had been ruined. First kisses were supposed to be remembered as a welcomed loss of innocence and the sweet anticipation of second and third kisses. Miserably, he realized that he wouldn't be getting any second or third kisses. At least not from Blaine. Kurt was sure of that.

He had never seen anyone look quite so broken and utterly wronged as Blaine had. The look on Blaine's face was as if someone had turned his entire world upside down just to watch him gasp for air that wouldn't come, and Kurt had no idea _why_.

So maybe Blaine was afraid of relationships, or commitment, or whatever people who avoided love were afraid of, but surely something so trivial as a fear of commitment (trivial in Kurt's mind at least), didn't warrant the absolute horror that had been all too obvious in Blaine's eyes. What in the hell had happened to Blaine to make him look at Kurt that way?

Kurt realized that he needed to know.

For a split second he thought about running to the bathroom to splash some cold water on his face - just to relieve some of the swell and redness from his skin, but he discarded that idea just as quickly as it had come. He hurried out of the dorm and down the dormitory steps. A few of his housemates looked at him in alarm, but he paid them no mind.

It was funny how much a thirty second kiss could change things so completely. A few hours ago, Kurt had been positive that Blaine wouldn't go to the Room of Requirement without him. Now, however, Kurt was almost sure that was where Blaine would be.

As it turned out, Kurt had only been partially right. As he rounded the corner on the seventh floor, he found Blaine not in the Room of Requirement, but slumped against the wall directly opposite from it.

Slowly and silently, Kurt walked up to Blaine and stopped a few feet away from him. Kurt frowned in confusion at Blaine's dirt covered robes and his rumpled clothing. The buttons on Blaine's shirt didn't line up correctly and his gray vest and Ravenclaw tie were nowhere to be seen. And Blaine smelled, quite frankly, like death and decay. It had only been a couple hours or so since their kiss. Kurt wondered where in the hell Blaine had gone to return in such a state.

Kurt stared mutely at Blaine as Blaine stared blankly at the wall. Now that he had found Blaine, Kurt realized he had no idea what to say. Did he even have a right to pry? He and Blaine were friends (or they _were_), but did that mean Kurt could press Blaine for answers about his personal life?

He _is the one who kissed _me, Kurt suddenly remembered. _I have a right to know._

Kurt had just decided upon blurting out the first thing that came to his mind, consequences be damned, when Blaine asked:

"Have you come to fuck something else up?"

Kurt's mouth fell open and his mind went momentarily blank. "Excuse me?" he asked without venom. He was too shocked to sound angry.

Blaine kept on staring at the wall. "You heard me."

Bewildered, Kurt shook his head. "Why are you being this way?"

Blaine said nothing, so Kurt tried again: "It was only a kiss, Blaine," Kurt lied, because it hadn't been 'only' a kiss, no matter what he or anyone else said.

Blaine laughed bitterly and called Kurt out on his lie. "Only a kiss, Kurt? We both know that's not true."

"Fine, then," Kurt snapped. "I lied. Happy? It wasn't 'only' a kiss for either of us." His anger faded quickly. "But I don't understand," he said miserably. "Why does it have to be a bad thing?"

"Because it was a mistake!" Blaine yelled, making Kurt flinch at the suddenness of it. Blaine shot to his feet. "And it shouldn't have happened! Just like that _damn_ date. That was a mistake, too!"

Kurt felt his breath leave him. A mistake?

But Blaine wasn't finished. "But you just had to push! You had to have your way! You're always whining about how horrible your life is because no one has kissed you or loved you, well, grow the fuck up Kurt! You're so spoiled that all you focus on is every little negative thing that has happened in your life when you should be content that you have a family who loves and provides for you! I'm _never _going to have that!"

Blaine was uncomfortable close now, and was glaring up at Kurt like he had something to prove. "My father hates everything about me and my mother sits there like some stupid fucking doll without a brain and lets him treat me like shit! So stop sniveling like a little fucking girl about how horrible you've had it because a few guys ruined your perfect hair and rumpled up those damn clothes you care so much about! And stop fucking pressuring me to love you because it's _pathetic_!"

Kurt figured that maybe it was the crack about him acting like a little girl, but when he brought back his hand to slap Blaine, he balled it into a fist at the last possible second and punched him instead.

Blaine staggered back, looking shocked and hurt. Kurt's anger flared up at the sheer audacity of it.

"_Fuck_ you, Blaine! You have no right to tell me that the bullying I went through at my old school doesn't matter! Because it matters to me! It _hurt_ being treated like that every day, and yeah, I have a wonderful father, and I love him and he loves me, but that doesn't negate the pain I went through, so don't you fucking _dare_ try to say that it does! And don't you dare call me pathetic! Maybe I overstepped by not respecting your wish to stay friends, but _you_ were the one who grabbed my hand, _you_ were the one who kissed me, and _you _were the one who agreed to go on our date! I didn't force you to do any of those things, so don't go playing the victim!"

Blaine still had that hurt look on his face, and Kurt couldn't have cared less. He was on a roll.

"And as far as I'm concerned, it's not like you tell me anything about yourself anyway, so how am I supposed to know what you're going through? I didn't want to pressure you Blaine, and I may not have had any friends before I came here, but I'm pretty sure that friendship is a two way street." And just like that, Kurt's anger was gone. It faded away surprisingly quickly until all that was left was pain and insecurity. "And… and what is so wrong about wanting to be loved? Everybody wants someone to love them." Kurt looked desperately at Blaine. "I want that, Blaine. Don't you?"

"Yes," Blaine whispered, a far off look in his eyes.

"Well, I love you, Blaine." The words seemed to drop straight from Kurt's mouth to the floor, where they lay exposed and vulnerable.

Blaine slumped against the wall. "Please don't say that. You don't mean it. You _can't_ mean it."

"Why not?" Kurt challenged. "It's how I feel."

Blaine shook his head. "Because you don't understand. And even if you did, it wouldn't matter, because I just can't."

"Can't what?"

Blaine looked up at Kurt with sad eyes. "Hurt you."

Kurt wanted to cry again, this time out of sheer frustration, but he held himself in check. "Blaine, _please_. I can't help you if you don't tell me how to. You need to trust me."

"Well, I don't."

Kurt sucked in a whistled breath. Every other harsh thing Blaine had said to him paled so horribly in comparison to _that._ Blaine absolutely refused to look at him, and after that admission, Kurt didn't really want to look at Blaine, either.

They stood against the wall across from what used to be their safe heaven cloaked in uncomfortable silence.

* * *

><p>When Blaine returned to the dorms a few hours later, he found all of the sixth year boys waiting for him except for Kurt. Blaine had no idea where Kurt was. After Blaine had told Kurt that he didn't trust him, Kurt hadn't stuck around for long. Blaine couldn't say that he blamed him.<p>

Nick took one look at Blaine's disheveled clothing and scowled. "Well, that's just fucking great."

"Nick," David bit out a warning. Nick threw his hands up in the air in a show of frustration but didn't say anything else. David turned his attention to Blaine. "So, we saw Kurt. He didn't look good."

Blaine nodded and ran a hand over his face. He felt so tired. "Where is he?"

"Mercedes and a few other girls from Gryffindor came and got some of his things a while ago," Jeff explained. "They looked really angry. I don't know what a gilipollas is, but Santana Lopez says that you are one."

"Apparently Kurt is going to be staying with them for tonight," Wes supplied.

Blaine nodded again. "Right." What else was there to say?

"You don't look so good, either, Blaine," David pointed out. "What happened?"

Nick rounded on David. "What happened?" he demanded, incredulous. "We all _know _what happened. Blaine got to feeling sorry himself again and went down to that damn Chamber to do Merlin knows what with Dare, and then he probably ran into Kurt afterwards and acted like a total prat and hurt his feelings."

Blaine said nothing. It was true for the most part, anyway.

David sighed. "Nick, please, that's not helping."

"I don't care," Nick insisted. "This is completely and utterly ridiculous," he said as he turned to face Blaine. "Enough is enough, Blaine. You need to talk to Kurt. If not Kurt, then talk to us. Hell, talk to Professor Slyvester for all I bloody care, but you need to go to someone other than Case fucking Dare for comfort because he is _ruining _you. And you are hurting Kurt. Do you understand that, Blaine?"

"I'm trying to protect him," Blaine argued weakly.

Nick huffed. "Merlin, Blaine, you can't keep doing this to yourself. It's not healthy. Allowing yourself to love someone isn't a bad thing. You love all of us. Maybe not romantically but it's still love, and _we are fine_. You haven't hurt anyone. Kurt will be fine, too."

Thad, who had been silently listening from his bed, suddenly stood up. "Blaine, can you come with me, please? I would like to show you something."

Blaine didn't really want go anywhere. He was feeling pretty much like shit. In addition to being ashamed of himself for going down to the Chamber when he had _known_ that he would just regret it afterwards, he had probably ruined his relationship with Kurt beyond repair, and all he wanted to do was lay down on his bed and wallow in the misery the brought on himself.

But Thad didn't seem to care what Blaine wanted because the brunette took hold of Blaine's filthy sleeve and dragged him to the door without waiting for Blaine's consent. Thad also ignored everyone else when they all started asking questions at once, wanting to know where Thad was taking him.

"Where are we going?" Blaine asked after they had been walking for quite some time. He was surprised to find that he actually had no idea where he was. He had been under the impression that he had been everywhere there was to go at Hogwarts.

"I want to show you something," Thad repeated and Blaine didn't press him to elaborate further.

Eventually they stopped at a very large, very old pair of doors, and a ghost passed through the left one from whatever room was on the other side. Blaine immediately recognized her as the Ghost of Ravenclaw House, otherwise known as the Grey Lady.

She turned her sad, dead eyes on Thad. "Back again Thaddeus Hardwood? You shall waste away before that mirror."

Thad's expression remained stoic. "I should say the same for you, Lady."

Her lips twitched ever so slightly, as if she might have smiled. "I am dead. I cannot waste away any more than I already have."

Thad shrugged. "Emotionally, then."

The ghost looked amused. "You are a very queer human, Thaddeus Hardwood, but I thank you for believing that I still have the ability to feel."

Thad inclined his head. "Your welcome, Lady."

Without so much as a glance in Blaine's direction, the ghost floated away.

Thad pulled the door open. "Follow me," he told Blaine, and Blaine did.

The room behind the door was massive. It was also empty except for a large, rectangular fixture that stood in the middle of the room. The Grey Lady had called it a mirror, but Blaine didn't see any glass, so either the ghost had been mistaken or it was turned the other way.

"The glass is on the other side," Thad answered Blaine's thoughts. "Go look and tell me what you see."

"If it's a mirror, won't I just see myself?" Blaine asked.

"Humor me," Thad said.

Blaine held in his sigh and walked over to the impossibly tall mirror until he stood in front of the glass. The very first thing he thought when he saw his reflection was that he looked terrible. He was dirty and he looked about ten years older than he really was. There were bags under his eyes. If Thad was trying to make Blaine feel bad about himself, it was certainly working.

"I just see myself," Blaine said quietly. He wanted badly to look away. He couldn't stand looking in his own eyes.

"Give it a moment," Thad said, but Blaine wasn't listening because in that moment the image in the mirror changed and Blaine was suddenly looking at Kurt.

The Mirror Kurt smiled gently at Blaine before mouthing, "None of those things that happened were your fault, Blaine, and I still love you." Mirror Kurt didn't actually talk, not audibly anyway, but Blaine could almost hear Kurt's musical voice say the words. It sent a chill dripping down his spine.

Blaine tore his eyes off the Kurt in the mirror, who had started to mouth the same words again, and looked at Thad. "What is this?"

"It's called the Mirror of Erised. It shows us our deepest desires."

Blaine looked back at the mirror just in time to see Mirror Kurt mouth the words, "I still love you," and Blaine's eyes teared up. He lifted a hand to touch Kurt's false image. He would have given anything to see the same image in a mirror that told the future.

"What do you see?" Thad asked.

Blaine sniffled. "Kurt. He's telling that what happened third year wasn't my fault and that he still loves me." Suddenly angry, Blaine ripped his hand away from the mirror and turned his head to the side. "But it really doesn't matter. It's a lie."

"It's not a lie," Thad insisted. "It's showing you truth about what you want most."

"Just because I want it doesn't mean it will come true," Blaine snapped.

As always, Thad remained stoic and calm. Poised. "It doesn't mean that it won't come true, either."

Blaine froze. "But…"

Thad sighed. "But what, Blaine? You can punish yourself over this for the rest of your life if you like, but that isn't going to change one single thing. If anyone should be punished over this, it should be your father. He was the one who had you sucking down those potions of his three times a week without bothering to test them first to see if they were safe for you to take."

"I know that I can't change what happened," Blaine said truthfully. He had tried that once already. He could remember staying up all night in the hospital with his parents, stuck in his own personal limbo as he waited to hear whether or not he had killed a boy. Once Blaine and his parents were told that the boy would live, but would have to spend the rest of his life in a psych ward, Blaine learned at the tender age of thirteen that some things were worse than death. And to his father's horror, Blaine had made quite the spectacle of himself as he dropped to the floor and grabbed at Carl Anderson's robes, sobbing loudly as he begged his father to use his influence at the Ministry and get a permit for Blaine to use a Time Turner.

Blaine pushed the horrible memory and its aftermath away. "I'm not trying to change anything, but I can't expect Kurt to be with someone who has done the things I have. He deserves better."

"You're being selfish and presumptuous, Blaine. That's Kurt's decision to make, not yours. He deserves the truth from you."

"But what if I tell him and he hates me?" Blaine whispered. "I… I don't think I could handle that." He looked at Mirror Kurt's beautiful smile. "Especially not after seeing this…"

Thad shrugged. "What if you tell him and what you see comes true?"

"Even if he does say he still loves me, how could I ever believe him?"

"You're just going to have to trust him. But I guess if you're that worried about it, then bring him here when you tell him. Ask him what he sees. The mirror never lies. But, Blaine," Thad said, his voice stern and serious, "you _are_ going to have to trust him eventually. Without proof of the mirror. You can't always have everything neat and perfect. Life isn't all back and white like that. There are shades of grey."

"Kurt said something like that," Blaine said softly. And then he thought of something. "What do you see in the mirror, Thad?"

Thad avoided Blaine's eyes as his cheeks colored, which was something that didn't happen often. It was all the answer that Blaine needed.

"You should give Jeff a chance," Blaine told him.

Thad shook his head. "That's different."

"It's not really," Blaine said, shocking himself, because it was true. Blaine knew for a fact that Jeff loved Thad. Jeff had _always_ loved Thad. Maybe Jeff had a funny way of showing it sometimes, and maybe he and Thad were two vastly different people, but Jeff still loved him. And if Thad just gave Jeff a chance, Blaine knew that the two of them could be happy together.

Was it possible that Blaine and Kurt could be like that, too?

"It _is_ different," Thad insisted. "Jeff is straight."

"He says he's not when it comes to you."

Thad scowled at the floor. "He says a lot of things that he doesn't mean."

"Now who's being presumptuous and selfish?" Blaine challenged and Thad looked up, obviously surprised at having his own wit thrown back at him so successfully. The other boy opened and closed his mouth a few times in silence.

Blaine smiled just a little at the flabbergasted look on Thad's face. "Thanks for bringing me here."

* * *

><p>Kurt sat in the Great Hall the next morning not eating and not talking to anyone. He didn't look at anyone either.<p>

"Kurt, are you o-"

"Oh my god, Finn!" Kurt snapped. "Stop asking me that! Do I look like I'm okay to you?"

Mutely, Finn shook his head.

"Then why do you keep asking me?" he demanded hotly.

Finn just sat there. He obviously had no idea what to say.

"_Well?_" Kurt prompted in his snarkiest tone of voice. He knew he was acting like a shit but he really didn't care.

Finn looked to his left and then to his right, obviously searching for a life line, but all of his fellow Gryffindors had their eyes cast down at their breakfast plates. "Uh… I don't know?"

"You don't know?" Kurt asked, and Finn nodded despite the uncertain look on his face. "Well, in that case, neither of us knows why you're being a repetitive moron, so just do me favor and stop asking me stupid questions!"

"Merlin," Finn muttered, looking slightly hurt. Rachel reached over to rub Finn's back.

Kurt sighed and dropped his head in his hand. He was being a bitch and none of them deserved it. They had all been so nice to him last night when he showed up at the Gryffindor portrait hole with red rimmed eyes and a broken heart. The girls had gone to the Tower to collect his things while the boys sat with him in the Gryffindor common room and gave him reassuring pats on the back. Puck had even slept on the floor all night so Kurt could have his bed. Kurt would have stayed with the girls, but if a boy so much as stepped foot onto the staircase that led to the girl's dormitory, a magical alarm sounded.

"I'm sorry, Finn. That was really mean," Kurt apologized, feeling more and more like an ass. "I shouldn't be snapping at you guys."

Tina, who was sitting next to him, laid a hand on his arm. "It's okay, Kurt. You're hurting. We understand."

Finn nodded.

Kurt grimaced. They were making him feel worse. "Still…" he began, but trailed off when he noticed that everyone sitting across from him was glaring angrily at something over his head.

"Um," a voice said from right behind him, and Kurt's body went absolutely rigid. The very last person he wanted to see or talk to right now was Blaine.

And if the looks on his friend's faces were anything to go by, they didn't want Kurt seeing or talking to Blaine either.

"Something you wanted, Anderson?" Santana asked, her voice cold as ice.

Blaine cleared his throat. "I wondered if I could talk to…" he trailed off with a sigh. "Kurt," Blaine addressed him directly. Kurt didn't dare turn around. "I wondered if we could maybe talk?"

Finn scowled. "I think you said enough yesterday."

Puck backed up his best friend with a nod. "Kurt won't tell us what you said, but I'm sure it wasn't anything good, so why don't you slag off back to the Ravenclaw table and just leave him alone?"

Blaine didn't move. Kurt could feel Blaine's closeness at his back. It made his skin tingle uncomfortably.

"I told him that he was spoiled and pathetic and that I didn't trust him as a friend," Blaine told them.

Blaine's honesty ripped through Kurt's body like a bullet. If Kurt had been holding something, he was positive that he would have dropped it in shock. But he wasn't holding anything, so Kurt dropped his jaw instead.

Several other jaws dropped, but for entirely different reasons.

"You've _got_ to be fucking kidding-" Santana began in an outrage but she cut off when Kurt held up a hand to silence her.

He turned around to look up at Blaine. "Why are you even here? What else could you possibly have to say to me?"

"I'm sorry," Blaine said in a rush. "I'm sorry I said those things. I didn't even meant most of it. I was just so angry, and…" He trailed off.

Kurt's narrowed. "What do you mean that you didn't mean 'most' of it? Because _all_ of it was pretty terrible. Are you actually trying to tell me that you agree with some of the things you said to me?"

Blaine grimaced. "I… not exactly."

"Not exactly?" Kurt repeated, furious.

Looking incredibly uncomfortable, Blaine shifted his weight from one foot to the other and back again. "Can we just talk? So I can explain everything? Please?"

Kurt made his decision quickly. "I'll be back, guys," he said as he stood up. He ignored Blaine's small smile of relief. Quite frankly, Blaine could take his smiles and shove them for all Kurt cared. Kurt might have been impressed with Blaine's honesty, but that didn't make all of the hurt Blaine had caused just go away.

"Kurt," Finn began, "are you seriously going to go with him after what he said to you?"

"Yes," Kurt replied.

Finn frowned. "…But _why_?"

_Because I love him,_ Kurt thought. _And that means something to me. _

Instead of answering his brother Kurt repeated, "I'll be back."

Neither of them spoke as Kurt followed Blaine through the castle. At first Kurt had figured that Blaine was going to take him to the Room of Requirement. He hadn't known how he felt about that. However, Blaine was leading him down towards the dungeons instead of up to the seventh floor. Kurt looked around with only a very mild interest at his surroundings as castle walls began to look older and dirtier. He wondered briefly when was the last time anyone was there to clean them.

Just when Kurt was going to ask if they were almost there, Blaine stopped at two large wooden doors and pulled one open. The hinges creaked horribly, making Kurt wince at the sound. Kurt followed Blaine into the room.

"That's a mirror," Blaine said, pointing to only object in the otherwise empty room. "The glass is on the other side. Could you go look at it?"

Kurt sighed impatiently and stayed where he was. "Blaine, I already know what I look like. What is the point of all this?" Kurt was all for trying to work things out. If Blaine wanted to apologize then Kurt figured he could at least listen. But this mirror thing just struck him as a colossal waste of time. If Blaine had some grand metaphoric take-a-good-look-yourself-talk planned out, Kurt would rather do without it.

Blaine looked at him in a needy, almost desperate way. "Please, Kurt? I just need you to do this for me. And then we can talk, I promise."

Kurt huffed and moved forward. "Fine. But I'm not going to be staring at myself while we are talking." At first the mirror only reflected his own image back at him, and Kurt was about to roll his eyes when it changed.

He still saw himself, but he was laying down on a couch and Blaine was laying in Kurt's arms. With his cheek resting against Mirror Kurt's chest, Mirror Blaine had his arms wrapped around Kurt's waist, which couldn't have been very comfortable in the position they were in, but judging from the contented smiles on their faces neither of them seemed to care. Kurt watched himself play with Mirror Blaine's curls and then lean down to kiss the top of Blaine's head. Mirror Blaine smiled and leaned up to lazily kiss Kurt's chin before returning to his former position.

"What is this?" Kurt asked. "Does it show the future?"

"No," Blaine shook his head. "What do you see?"

Kurt hesitated, not sure if he should tell. Even though what he saw involved the both of them, the image was oddly personal, and Kurt felt the need to protect both the image and himself. But Blaine looked so desperate that Kurt found himself saying, "I see us."

"What are we doing?" Blaine asked immediately.

Kurt looked hard at Blaine's eyes. "We're laying down together. I kissed the top of your head." Kurt narrowed his gaze at Blaine just a little bit. "You kissed me back."

Blaine nodded and looked away. "I'm sorry it hurt your feelings when I said that I didn't trust you. But I would be lying if I said I didn't meant it."

Kurt let that resonate and said nothing. Hearing it hurt like hell. Maybe even more so now since neither of them were yelling at each other.

"I've done some… really horrible things, Kurt. And I just can't trust you, or anyone really, to know what those things are and still want to be with me."

"Blaine, I don't-" Kurt began, but Blaine cut him off, which was something Blaine never did.

"Please, just let me finish. I've never said this out loud before… and I…" Blaine trailed off and began again. "When Chase outed me to everyone at the end of our second year, I wasn't stupid enough to think that everyone would forget over the summer, or anything like that, but I did think that it would be nice to have a whole three months away from all the teasing. I thought it would be nice to get away from Chase, too. He never teased me, but he watched while other people did. He likes that, you know. Watching other people in pain.

"But that doesn't really matter to the story. Anyway, I went home for the summer, and somehow my father knew about me. I don't know how, but somehow he just did. He always does." Blaine frowned and his eyes went blank, as if after all these years he was still trying to figure out that puzzle. He blinked the vision back into his eyes and continued. "He didn't say much about it. My mother picked me up from the platform and when we got home, the first thing he said to me was, 'I know that you're gay.' And that was it. He turned around and went back to his study. My mother didn't say anything. She never does."

Blaine looked at Kurt with an amused smile that was sorely out of place and made Kurt uncomfortable, "You know, I actually took that as a good sign. No one yelled. No one said I was disgusting, or called me names, or tried to kick me out, so I thought everything was pretty okay. We were never really a very verbal family, anyway. So at breakfast the next day when my father told our cook that I was no longer permitted to have orange juice with my breakfast on Saturdays because he had made me something special to drink, I didn't ask questions."

Blaine barked out a hallow laugh.

"You know, I was actually happy that my father made me something. I figured it meant he loved me because he was taking the time out of his busy day to make something just for me. People begged my father to make things for them all of the time, and the price they paid for his potions was always very high. My potion was free, and I hadn't even had to ask for it." Blaine scowled. "Kids are so stupid. So damn trusting when they shouldn't be. I only took three sips before threw it up. I threw up every single time I took it for a long time. I didn't even complain. Eventually I stopped throwing up - I got used to it, I guess - but not throwing it up was almost worse, because then it stayed in my system and it made me feel funny. I was incredibly short tempered. I would get angry at the littlest things. My magic would react to my anger and I would wind up shattering a glass or making the lights flicker.

"My father seemed very pleased about all of this. He told me that at the rate we were going, I would be a completely normal boy by the end of the year. I screamed at him and said I had always been a normal boy. I broke every single flask in his office with that outburst. It pleased him further.

"When I went back to Hogwarts, the teasing started again, but I didn't mind because at least I didn't have to take those stupid potions anymore, or so I thought until I got called to the Hospital Wing at the end of the week. My father had given Madam Pomfrey - she was the nurse here before Madam Pillsbury - instructions to give me one potion a week. I was miserable. Then I met Tyler."

Blaine pulled his knees up to his chest and rested his forehead on them. "I loved him so much, Kurt. He was my best friend. He was in third year, too. A Slytherin. And he was gay. The other Slytherin boys picked on him a lot. Much more than they did me. Tyler's bullying was similar to what happened to you." Blaine finally looked at Kurt. "I'm so sorry I belittled what happened to you. I didn't mean that. I was angry and it was stupid and insensitive."

Kurt knelt down next to Blaine and grabbed his hand. He wasn't going to say it was okay, because it wasn't, and Blaine didn't deserve to be lied to. "I forgive you," he said.

Blaine smiled a little sadly and continued. "Tyler and I never got together or anything. We were really young. Too young for that anyway. But it was nice to have someone else who understood. My father found out about it, he made my mother write me a letter and ask me to stop spending time with Tyler. I ignored the letter, of course. My father upped my dosage.

"By the end of the year I was taking his potion three times a week. Tyler was getting beat up about once a month, and teased every day. I was only being teased. I think my anger scared the others, especially when I made windows break. Nick and Jeff would always fix whatever I broke for me, so the teachers never knew. And the rest of the boys tried to stick close to me in the halls. Tyler stuck close to us, too, but there was nothing we could do to help him in the dorms. And then Chase started going after him. Remember I told you Chase liked to watch? Well, not with Tyler. I didn't know why at the time."

Blaine pulled his hand away from Kurt's. "The last week of school, I found Chase and Tyler near the Dungeons together. Tyler had asked me to meet him there because he had something to tell me. Chase had Tyler on the floor and he just kept punching him. Over and over. I had never been so angry. Not ever." Blaine's eyes looked empty. Kurt didn't dare touch him. "I pulled out my wand, pointed it at Chase and yelled the first thing that came to mind. It was the _Cruciatus_ curse. It hit Tyler. Even after I realized my mistake and stopped the spell, he just kept screaming. He wouldn't stop. I still hear it sometimes," Blaine whispered. "His screaming..." Kurt could tell from Blaine's eyes that he was hearing it now. Blaine shuddered.

"Anyway, I passed out. We were both rushed to St. Mungos and both our parents were called. I was fine. Tyler was in critical condition. Apparently the spell had been magnified by either the potion in my system, or my anger, or whatever… It doesn't really matter why, I guess. We sat up all night, waiting. It was a Wednesday…"

Kurt's eyes widened. "Is that why? Every Wednesday night, when you can't sleep…?"

"Yes."

"What happened?" Kurt asked gently.

"The curse broke him mentally. He can't… he can't even talk. Or, I hear he doesn't. He just sits there..."

"And it's my fault," Blaine whispered. "I did that to him, Kurt."

Kurt stared at Blaine, at a loss for words. What could he possibly say? "Blaine…" Kurt reached out to touch him, knowing that would probably be a mistake, but unable to stop himself from trying.

Blaine jerked away. "What if I do that to you?" he yelled. "What if I fuck up and you're the one who's brain dead? I _can't _do that, Kurt! I can't!" A shuddering breath left Blaine's lips. "But I love you so much… I can't stay away from you. What kind of person does that make me? More than anything I just want you to love me, too."

Kurt put his hands on Blaine's knees. "I told you yesterday that I already do," he reminded Blaine gently.

Blaine sobbed. "_Why_?" He asked. "I wish you didn't."

"No, you don't."

Blaine's face crumpled. "You're right," he said brokenly. "I'm sorry."

Kurt sighed and put his forehead against Blaine's. Blaine didn't pull away. "It's okay, Blaine. You don't have to be sorry for wanting me to love you. I want you to love me, too."

Blaine clutched at either side of Kurt's head and tilted his face forward to kiss Kurt's lips. It was a quick kiss, with closed, dry lips, but it made Kurt feel warm. Blaine sobbed a little and kissed Kurt again, just as quickly. "I love you. I love you."

Kurt tried his damndest not to cry. "I love you, too, Blaine."

Blaine trembled. "Please. Can you look in the mirror again? I need to know…"

Kurt nodded that he would, but Blaine held on tight and wouldn't let him go. Kurt covered Blaine's hands with his own. "Blaine… You have to let me go, honey. I can't go look while you're holding me like that."

It took him a minute, but Blaine finally let go and Kurt stood up. As he walked to the mirror, Kurt felt his eyes tear up and he allowed the moisture to collect there for a few seconds before he blinked it away. He looked in the mirror. The image he saw was the same. Blaine started crying hard when Kurt told him so. Blaine's shoulders shook from the force of his upset.

Kurt didn't ask questions. He just wrapped his arms around Blaine and let him cry. Blaine held onto Kurt like his sanity depended on it. Kurt thought just maybe it did.

* * *

><p><strong>*************IMPORTANT AN************* **

**By the next chapter, this story is going to have a different title. When I first started writing, I wasn't sure where I was going with it, so I tacked on the first thing I could think of as a title. I don't feel the title fits the story anymore, so I'm going to be changing it. I'll put 'formerly entitled Gleewarts' in the summery so you guys know which one it is. Or just look out for my pen-name (Cerez). I'm pretty sure the new title is going to be "Something (or maybe Someone) to Rely On." **

And now back to my regularly scheduled end-of-chapter-rambling (you don't need to read this):

In case you're worried, NO, Blaine is NOT going to take back his 'I loves you's.' He said them, he meant them, and there's no going back.

This is me throwing you guys a bone: Obviously Blaine still has things to work out (Chase isn't going to just disappear), but Kurt is going to help him, and they are going to do it TOGETHER. I was just as tired of the whole no stings attached nonsense as you guys were.

So next chapter we see the rest of November, and the first part of December, as our boys start to explore a romantic relationship together. I'm really excited about December actually, because Blaine is going to be spending the break at Kurt's house, and there will be some surprise guests there. But that's all I'm going to say about that.

Like I said this chapter made me nervous, and I'd really appreciate feedback, positive or otherwise. Just please no flames, but constrictive criticism is always welcome.

Til next time,

Cerez


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: Since we have only seen the one Klaine kiss, we can all safely assume I have not been given ownership rights of _Glee_. And as far as _Harry Potter_ goes, seeing as how I still only have about five dollars in my bank account, I seriously doubt I own that either.

* * *

><p>Blaine cried for a long time and Kurt didn't try to calm him down. In fact, Kurt didn't do anything other than rub Blaine's back. Words seemed utterly useless in this situation, and Kurt doubted that Blaine would hear them in the first place, he was crying that hard. So Kurt concentrated instead on gradually increasing and then decreasing the size of the ellipses he was rubbing into Blaine's back.<p>

Eventually Blaine's loud sobs were reduced to quiet ones, and then finally to the occasional hiccup as Blaine's body fell limp against Kurt's. Kurt kept rubbing the ellipses into Blaine's back.

"When was the last time you cried like that?" Kurt asked as quietly as he could.

"Long time," Blaine mumbled. His voice was hoarse. "Can you tell me again? Please."

Kurt kissed Blaine's forehead. "I love you. I'm going to tell you every day."

Blaine didn't cry, but his face crumpled with upset and he drew closer into Kurt's embrace. "You're shouldn't after what I've done. My father used to say they are called Unforgivable Curses for a reason, and he's right."

Kurt closed his eyes against the sudden anger that swelled up. What kind of a father treated his child that way? He never would have thought that he could hate someone he had never met so much. "You were a little kid, Blaine. You didn't know what you were doing."

"That's not true. I _wanted_ to hurt Chase. I wanted to hear him scream for everything he put Tyler and me through. The only reason why I didn't get my wand snapped in half and expelled from school was because I was 'emotionally compromised' by the potion I took."

"The point still stands, then," Kurt argued. "You didn't have proper control of your magic or your emotions because you were drugged. I'm not going to hold that against you. And I don't think anyone else would, either."

"Nobody else knows," Blaine whispered. "Just you… and Chase."

"What about the guys?"

"They don't know details. They don't know I used an Unforgivable. All they know is that Tyler is in St. Mungo's for life because of something I did."

Kurt burred his nose in Blaine's curls. "I'm glad you trusted me enough to tell me."

Blaine looked up at Kurt. "Trusted you," he repeated. "Is that what that means?"

Kurt tried to smile, but he couldn't quite muster it. "I think so. Don't you?"

Blaine seemed to consider it for a moment. "I… I don't know. I want it to."

"Maybe we can work up to it," Kurt suggested.

"We," Blaine said as his gaze dropped to Kurt's lips and Kurt held his breath. Blaine hesitated for only a moment before leaning forward and touching his lips to Kurt's. Blaine's cheeks felt wet and clammy, and the kiss was almost lethargic given the lazy way their lips slid together, but Kurt the emotions wrapped up in the kiss settled over his body like the warmest blanket.

Blaine was first to pull away. He buried his face in Kurt's shoulder. "That feels… so amazing."

Kurt nodded. "I agree," he said breathlessly.

Blaine's breath warmed Kurt's skin through his shirt. "I'm going to want to do that a lot," the other boy mumbled.

Kurt flushed a little. "Me, too."

Blaine looked up. "Now?" he asked, breathing heavy. His eyes were dark.

"Please," Kurt said, not even caring how needy he sounded.

When their mouths met for the second time, Kurt decided that he wanted more this time. Shyly and a little self-consciously, he reached out with his tongue and licked tentatively at Blaine's lips. Blaine made a sound that was caught somewhere between a moan and a sigh and licked back. The feel of it was absolutely electric. That was the only way Kurt could think to describe it. It made his whole body tense with pleasure. It felt delicious.

It quickly became too much and not enough, and Kurt had to pull away before he embarrassed himself. The last thing he needed right now was to get an erection. He would have absolutely no idea what to do about it, and he could already feel that part of him start to throb.

"Merlin," Blaine whispered. He kissed Kurt's cheek. "I never knew kissing could be like that."

"Like what?" Kurt asked even as he tried to think of other things besides kissing so he could calm the blood that was rushing south.

"Like sharing souls or something." Blaine kissed Kurt's cheek again. "My heart is beating so fast. You did that."

"God, Blaine," Kurt said. This was the boy who said that he wasn't good with romance? Was Blaine crazy or just completely oblivious?

"Did I say something wrong?" Blaine asked, sounding worried.

Kurt shook his head. "No. It's just… what you said was beautiful."

Blaine smiled, and Kurt was relieved. He had been a little worried that Blaine wouldn't smile for a long time.

"Well, that's how I feel right now: beautiful. You did that, too."

Kurt's face burned hot. "You're embarrassing me," he mumbled.

Blaine's smile widened. "I love you."

"I love you, too," Kurt said immediately, and to his horror Blaine's smile vanished and his eyes teared up again. "Hey. You're not supposed to cry."

Blaine sniffled adorably. "I know. M'sorry."

Kurt tried to lighten the mood, "Please don't tell me you're going to cry every time I say I love you. Because I already told you I plan on saying it a lot."

Blaine made an effort to smile. He didn't do so bad, Kurt thought. It was a little watery, but it still made his eyes light up, even if only a little bit. "Maybe only for the first year we're together."

Kurt's body tensed as hope soared through him. He tried to keep it in check, just in case, but it refused to be held down. "You… want us to be together?" he asked, how voice blown with longing.

Blaine frowned at their hands and took hold of two of Kurt's fingers. It was an odd thing to do, Kurt thought, but there was something tender about it just the same. "I want to try. It's probably a mistake-"

"Please don't call it that," Kurt begged.

Blaine smiled apologetically, though he continued as if Kurt hadn't spoken. "-a mistake because I still get so angry sometimes, and it really scares me, but I want to try. Would that be okay? Would you be my boyfriend?"

"Of course I will."

* * *

><p>By the time they got back to the Great Hall, it was already empty of both people and food so Blaine took Kurt's hand and they went down to the kitchens. Kurt had never seen a House-Elf before, and there were probably about fifty or so of them running around the humongous kitchen, and all of them seemed to adore Blaine.<p>

They ran up to him and grinned excitedly at him as they begged to assist him in whatever way he needed. Blaine, of course, knew them all by name and was probably the cutest human being Kurt had ever laid eyes on. As Kurt watched Blaine interact with the Elves, all he could think about was how much he wanted to kiss him. It took Kurt a surprisingly long time to remember that he could kiss Blaine any time he wanted. When he did remember it though, he walked over to his new boyfriend and placed a quick kiss on Blaine's lips as if it was the most natural thing in the world to do.

The action seemed strangely intimate and familiar, and Kurt was very conscious of that fact by the time he pulled away. It was the first kiss Kurt had initiated completely on his own, and in front of an audience no less—not that the giggling House-Elves seemed to mind. Still, the entire thing made him feel a little nervous but Blaine's jubilant smile kept Kurt from being too embarrassed.

After reassuring the elves about thirty times that he really didn't need help, Blaine put together a bowl of leftover fruit from that morning's breakfast and they both settled down on the floor to eat it. Their joined hands lay on the floor between them.

"We've really got to stop skipping class," Kurt said when they had finished all the fruit in the bowl.

Blaine frowned as he considered that and looked at his watch. "You think we should try to make it to Potions before it ends? There's about twenty more minutes left."

"No, but this should probably be the last time we skip for a while."

"Yeah, okay."

They sat in comfortable silence for a while before Blaine started chuckling to himself. Kurt quirked an eyebrow at him.

"I'm just thinking about everyone's reactions," Blaine explained between little fits of laughter.

Kurt groaned. "Oh, god. Can we just… not tell them?"

"Only if you plan on not holding hands in public, which might be a problem because I really like holding your hand and I'd like to do it as often as possible." Blaine gave Kurt's hand a gentle squeeze to emphasize his point.

"Alright, fine. But I will not be held responsible for what I do to Nick and Jeff when they do something stupid."

"Of course not," Blaine agreed, sounding completely serious.

After they finished their breakfasts and Blaine gave the Elves a rather long goodbye, promising to come back soon, they walked back up to the dorms still holding hands. Kurt decided that he wasn't going to give Blaine his hand back for a long time. Everything was beginning to feel a little bit too surreal and he needed the reassurance.

"So, I'm thinking pet names," Blaine suddenly announced.

Oh, boy…

"Pet names?" Kurt asked, hoping he didn't sound too freaked out. What if Blaine wanted to call him something stupid like… well, just something stupid.

"Yeah… like pumpkin or something."

Like pumpkin.

Blaine sped up a little so that he was ahead of Kurt and then twisted around so that he was facing Kurt and walking backwards. Frowning, he held one hand up as if to encase Kurt's face in an imaginary picture frame. The illusion didn't really word because Blaine's other hand was still holding Kurt's.

"You could totally be my pumpkin," Blaine decided.

"Pumpkins are orange."

"So? Pumpkins are cute."

"You think everything is either cute or adorable. Those are your go to adjectives."

"True," Blaine conceded Kurt's point. "But what's wrong with orange?"

Kurt's eyebrows rose. "Have you seen my skin, Blaine? Orange is just not my color. Plus pumpkins are all round and fat, which I am not."

"But… you wouldn't actually _be_ a pumpkin. You'd just be my pumpkin. Big difference. Huge."

"No."

Blaine sighed in an overly dramatic way. "Alright, fine. But I'm going to think of a good one that you'll like."

Kurt shuddered at the thought.

They stopped at the entrance to the Tower and answered the riddle to get inside. When they entered the common room, almost all conversation immediately stopped. Several people glanced at their joint hands in what Kurt was sure they thought was a discrete manor. Others stared unabashed with their mouths hanging open.

Kurt felt his face heat up under everyone's intense scrutiny and Blaine squeezed his hand.

Nick, who was sitting at a table in the corner with the rest of the sixth year boys, broke the awkward silence. "So… you two _are_ together now right? Because if not, I just give up on the both of you."

Blaine had asked him to be his boyfriend, but suddenly Kurt felt especially nervous, and more than just a little bit worried. Establishing their relationship when it was just the two of them was one thing. Declaring it established in a common room full of people was another.

And Kurt hadn't actually meant it when he asked Blaine if they could keep their relationship a secret, but what if Blaine didn't know that? Or worse, what if Blaine hadn't meant it when he said that he wanted to tell people?

But Kurt needn't have wasted his energy worrying over it, because Blaine grinned easily and said, "Yeah, we are."

A chorus of finally!'s erupted, and Blaine laughed and pulled him to the table where their friends were sitting.

Nick was grinning from ear to ear. "Two new relationships in one day!" he announced happily.

"Two?" Blaine asked.

Nick smirked and motioned between Thad and Jeff with his pointer finger.

Thad scowled, though Kurt could see a light blush on his cheeks. "We're not in a relationship. I only agreed to go with him to Hogsmeade." He gave Jeff a stern look. "And that's _all_ I agreed to."

Jeff had the dopiest grin on his face that Kurt had ever seen. "That's fine, muffin. One date with me and you'll change your mind," he promised as he pressed his face close to Thad's.

"I doubt it," Thad deadpanned as he shoved Jeff away. The blonde just laughed. "And don't call me muffin."

"Hey!" Blaine suddenly perked up as he turned to look at Kurt. "What about—?"

"No."

* * *

><p>The weather turned cold surprisingly quickly as November came to an end and Kurt quickly discovered that cold weather and large castles did not mix well. He felt like he was living in an icebox.<p>

It was absolutely freezing in the halls. The only warm places to be found in the castle were some of the upper level classrooms, the common rooms, the dorms, and the Great Hall.

The cold was seriously messing with his mind, too. Each morning, he was actually _happy_ to pull on the incredibly dull, incredibly _boring_, grey sweater that did absolutely nothing for his complexion. It was sick. Hogwarts, Scotland, and the less than favorable weather were killing his once incredibly loyal fashion sensibility. He mourned the loss every day.

In fact, he was currently indulging in a sin against fashion as he cuddled up on the couch in front of the fireless fireplace, still in his uniform and robes. Classes had ended long ago — it was almost nine PM— but Kurt just hadn't been able to bring himself to change. The layers felt so amazing piled up on his freezing flesh, and while his own clothes were beautiful, practical they were not. Plus, changing would require taking layers off and he did _not_ want to do that.

He wished Blaine would hurry up and get back from his Prefect patrol so he could light a fire and Kurt could get warm.

As he sat there freezing, he muttered to himself about no good boyfriends — a new favorite past time of his since he actually had a boyfriend to mutter over now — the door to Ravenclaw Tower swung open and Blaine walked in shivering.

"Merlin, it's bloody cold," Blaine announced before his eyes landed on Kurt and he smiled wide. "Hi, love!" he said happily as he walked over to the couch Kurt was curled up on.

They had only been together for a little over a week and a half, but Blaine's determination to slap Kurt with an endearment had proven stronger than Kurt's attempts to talk Blaine out of it. When Kurt had made that rather unfortunate mistake of admitting that Blaine's suggestion of 'love' wasn't all that bad, Blaine had taken it and ran with it, much to Kurt's chagrin and delight, since secretly he kind of liked it when Blaine called him love.

"Hi, Bl- oof!" Kurt wheezed when Blaine dropped his body on top of Kurt's. "Blaine! Get off!"

Blaine wrapped his arms around Kurt and snuggled in closer. "No way. I'm cold and you're so warm."

"You're suffocating me," Kurt whined, even though they both knew that wasn't true.

"Am not," Blaine said, but he lifted his body off of Kurt's just the same, though not before he placed a soft kiss on Kurt's cheek. "I got you a present," he announced happily.

"If it's not an electric heater, I don't want it."

Blaine frowned. "What's that?"

"It's a muggle device that uses electricity to make heat. You plug it into an outlet."

"Outlet," Blaine repeated, as he pondered the word. He always tried so hard to understand the modern technology Kurt was used to. His effort was adorable, mostly because Blaine had the cutest 'I'm thinking' face. "Those little rectangle things on the wall with the holes in them, right?"

Kurt nodded.

"Well, I don't have anything like that, but if you're cold…" Blaine leaned forward to grab Kurt's wrist and gently tugged until Kurt was resting against Blaine's chest with Blaine tucked in the corner between the back cushions and the armrest. Blaine wrapped his arms around Kurt's upper body and Kurt allowed himself to relax into the embrace.

"Better?" Blaine asked.

"Now that you're not squishing me to death; yes."

Blaine grinned — Kurt couldn't see it, but he just knew — and kissed the top of Kurt's head. If Blaine was affectionate when they had been just friends, he was twice as affectionate now.

"But anyway, here's your present." Blaine sifted around some and then placed a little flower on Kurt's chest.

Kurt's cheeks colored as he gently picked it up between his thumb and forefinger. The flower was very small, tiny even, and it was a pretty purplish color with a green center. "Where did you find it?"

"Just outside the main entrance of the school. I didn't see any others. I think it might be the last flower of the season. I don't know how it managed to survive in this cold."

"It's so tiny," Kurt said.

"That's why it's so adorable. And pretty. If you want, we can press it in a book."

Blaine was entirely too skilled at doing and saying things that rendered Kurt speechless. "Okay," he said shyly. "No one has given me a flower before. Thank you."

"You're welcome, love."

They sat quietly for a minute before Kurt broke the silence. "No fire tonight?"

Blaine shrugged. "I don't want to move. I was actually thinking about starting it magically."

"Really?" Kurt asked, shocked.

"No," Blaine sighed after a pause. "I guess I'll do it now."

Reluctantly, Kurt leaned up and Blaine got up and walked to the fireplace. "Are we still going to go to Hogsmeade together on December fourteenth?" Blaine asked as he set to work.

"Are you seriously asking me that, Blaine?"

"Yep."

"Well, in that case, then no."

Blaine stopped what he was doing to turn and pout. "But, Kurt," he whined, "I want to show you how pretty Hogsmeade looks in winter."

"Then you had better stop asking dumb questions."

Blaine laughed. "It wasn't _that _dumb."

"Oh, but it really, really was."

"Maybe a little bit," Blaine conceded just as he got the fire going. "There." He turned to Kurt and held his arms open from his place sitting pretzel style on the floor. "C'mere."

Kurt shook his head. "It's got to be a billion times colder on the floor than it is on the couch."

"But the fire is here and I really want to lay in front of it with you. And maybe kiss you a bit, too."

Kurt couldn't come up with anything to argue with that bit of logic — not that he really wanted to in the first place — so he stood up. His heart hammered like mad in his chest as he drew nearer to Blaine, and he hoped he wasn't blushing too badly. "The things I do for you," he said, proud that he actually didn't sound as nervous as he felt. "You have the strangest ideas sometimes."

"But you love me… right?" Blaine asked as he looked up at Kurt's face from his place on the floor. There was a teasing smile on Blaine's lips, but that didn't fool Kurt. He could see the genuine uncertainty in Blaine's eyes.

Kurt kneeled down so that they weren't quite so far away and pressed his forehead against Blaine's, knowing that Blaine needed closeness. "Yes, Blaine, I love you."

Blaine sighed and burred his face in the juncture between Kurt's neck and shoulder. Then he turned his head to brush his nose and lips against the skin of Kurt's neck just below his ear. Kurt shivered.

"I love you, too," Blaine said softly, his lips moving against Kurt's skin.

Kurt couldn't help the desperate little whine that found its way past his lips.

"Merlin, Kurt," Blaine mumbled as he ran his hands slowly down Kurt's back. Then Blaine placed his lips on Kurt's skin with enough pressure to kiss him and Kurt gasped. "You're so responsive. I'm barely touching you…"

"Sorry," Kurt heard himself say as he tilted his head to one side. His body felt really heavy. He could barely keep his eyes open.

"Don't be," Blaine said just before Kurt felt Blaine's tongue taste him. Then Blaine closed his lips over the skin and just once, and very gently, sucked.

Kurt's eyes flared. "Oh…!" he gasped softly.

Blaine pulled back so that their foreheads were resting together again. "Too much."

Kurt was drowning in the fog like daze that had settled over his mind, which made thinking difficult, but he made the effort. "Too much? What's too much?" He hadn't wanted Blaine to stop.

"Too much, too fast." Blaine kissed Kurt's cheek. "We haven't even been dating two weeks. I swear I only meant to kiss you when I asked you to come over here."

Kurt was confused. It was so hard to focus - his blood was still rushing pretty loudly in his ears. "Isn't that what we were doing? Kissing, I mean."

"Yeah, but that was sort of… intense." Blaine was breathing a little heavy. "You make my head all spinny."

"You make my head all spinny, too." What an understatement.

Blaine laughed and dropped his head against Kurt's shoulder, and Kurt knew there wouldn't be any more intense kissing that night, which was okay because the fire was at the point where it was really pretty to watch, and Blaine's weight felt good against Kurt's body.

"I hope there's snow on the ground when we go to Hogsmeade," Blaine said after a long, but comfortable silence.

"Me, too," Kurt agreed.

"If there is you have to make snow faeries with me."

Kurt quirked a brow. "Snow faeries?"

"Mmhmm. You know, when you lay down in the snow and move your arms up and down and your legs out and in."

Kurt giggled. "Muggles call them snow angels."

"Oh. Well, so long as it's the same concept. And you can't say no."

"We'll see."

* * *

><p>"Absolutely not," Kurt said the next morning at breakfast as he glared Nick and Jeff down.<p>

"But it's a great name!" Jeff insisted.

"Best one we've come up with yet," Nick agreed.

"I have a feeling a lot of people are going to like it," Jeff said, looking incredibly devious. Kurt eyed him suspiciously, but before he could interrogate the blonde, Nick announced happily:

"Blaine certainly seems to."

Kurt looked over at his boyfriend and scowled at the dopey grin on his face. "We are not encouraging this, Blaine."

Blaine had the decency to at least look guilty. "It's really cute, though."

"It's not cute, it's ridiculous. This is exactly why I suggested that we never, under any circumstances, _ever_ tell those two," he glowered at Nick and Jeff, "about our relationship. And now you know why."

Blaine's bottom lip slightly protruded in his signature pout. "But, Kurt, I really—"

Before Blaine could finish Finn came up behind Nick and Jeff's side of the table looking slightly uncomfortable. Everyone turned to look at him.

"Uh… hi guys," he greeted everyone before he shyly trained his eyes on Kurt and Blaine. Kurt frowned at his brother when Finn's cheeks turned red. "Er… h-hi… Klaine."

Kurt's jaw dropped open and Nick and Jeff roared with laughter. Looking wearily at Kurt, Wes scooted a little closer to David. Thad rolled his eyes. Blaine — the traitor — just looked rather delighted with the whole thing.

Kurt glared at Finn, his embarrassment rearing its ugly head, making him feel awkward. "_What_ did you just call us?"

"Klaine," Finn muttered to the floor, his cheeks growing redder by the second.

Jeff smirked at the Gryffindor. "Nice shade of Kurt Gone Mental red."

Finn frowned at Jeff. "Huh?"

"Focus, Finn!" Kurt snapped. "Why did you call us that?"

Immediately Finn went back to looking like he might pass out in shame. "You… uh… told me to."

Kurt shot Jeff and Nick a dangerous look. Nick hid his nose from Kurt's view. "What do you mean _I _told you to?" he demanded without taking his eyes off the two boys.

Finn stuffed his hand into his robes pocket and pulled out a rainbow colored piece of paper with little purple hearts and stars all over it. Kurt gaped at it.

"I found this on my pillow this morning," Finn explained as he nervously shifted his weight from one foot to the other.

"Read it," Kurt ordered.

Finn took a breath and started reading. "I, Kurt Fabulous Hummel, formally request, or in my case demand on account of how bossy I am—" Kurt pressed his lips into a thin line "—that you, Finneas the Giant Hudson — that's hurtful, by the way, and my name isn't Finneas — from this point forward refer to me and my super tiny boyfriend, Blaine Dapper Anderson, as Klaine."

Before Kurt got a chance to say anything in response to Nick and Jeff's latest bit of nonsense that Finn had so obviously fallen for, Puck sauntered over to the table with an identical piece of paper in his hand and an arrogant grin on his face. "Sup, Klainey boys," he smirked and Kurt dropped his head in his hands and groaned at his misfortune.

Nick and Jeff were laughing so hard tears were rolling down their cheeks.

"I'm going to kill you both," Kurt snapped at them. "And where the hell did you get that tacky assed paper? I'm gay, not Princess Rainbow from planet Purple Heart."

Puck walked over to Kurt's side of the table. "Scoot, China," he told Wes, whose jaw dropped in abject outrage. Puck rolled his eyes and forced his way between Kurt and Wes, forcing everyone on Wes' side to move down a space. There was a yelp at the very end of the table followed by a dull thump. Once Puck was situated he gathered both Kurt's hands in his own.

Kurt went instantly red and tried to pull out of the other boy's grasp but Puck held tight. "What the hell are you—"

"Look, Hummel, I got your letter, and you're my boy. If I were into blokes I would totally fuck the hell out of you on a daily basis."

On Kurt's other side Blaine tensed. "Alright, that's enough, Noah."

Puck went on as if Blaine hadn't spoken. "And it's really flattering that you're, like, into me or whatever — Noah the Heaven Puckerman sounds really badass, by the way — but I'm really not into touching dick unless it's my own, so—"

Kurt finally succeeded in pulling his hands out of Puck's and slapped a hand over the Gryffindor's mouth. "There is such a thing as TMI, Noah!" Kurt yelled, his face hot.

He was about two seconds from releasing Puck to jinx Nick and Jeff into oblivion when something soft and wet ghosted across his palm and he ripped his hand away from Puck's mouth. "Ew, ew, ew!" Kurt whined as he scrubbed his palm against his robes. "You _licked_ me!" Kurt accused.

Puck grinned rather raunchily at him.

"He did _what_?" Blaine yelled.

Nick shook his head at Blaine. "Now that just wasn't dapper at all, Blainey."

Puck shrugged. "I figured since I'm rejecting you, the least I could do is give you a little piece the Heaven. I'm not totally heartless, Hummel. Plus, your letter was probably the hottest thing I've ever read and that earns you some serious Fuck the Puck Points, even though you can't actually use them, cause I doubt I could get it up for a bloke. But you should still be proud to have them. I don't give those out to very many people, and never to a wizard before. I never pinned you as the naughty type, but coming on to me as you ramble on about some pet name you made up for you and your boyfriend…" Puck gave a visible shudder. "It really blows that you're not a girl."

Finn looked like he was going to throw up. "Oh, Merlin."

Rachel stormed over. "_Kurt!"_ she yelled and Kurt groaned. Rachel slapped a now familiar rainbow colored paper on the table. "How could you?" she demanded. "Rachel the Crazy Eyes Berry? My eyes are _not_ crazy, they are focused and determined. There is a difference. And while I agree that Klaine is quite possibly the cutest couple name ever, you have offended and wounded my pride and so I must refuse your request that I use it when referring to you both."

Wes pointed and accusatory finger at Nick and Jeff. "I demand to know how you two placed all of these letters. It is against school policy for boys to be in the girl's dormitories. In fact, you have no business being in another House's common room without the proper accompaniment."

Nick shrugged. "Jeff's half gay for Thad. We figured that would make it okay."

Thad choked on his coffee. Jeff pounded on his back. "Nick's making that up," the blonde told the still coughing boy.

"And as for the House thing," Nick continued, unabashed at the mayhem he was causing, "since when have we ever listened to the rules anyway?"

Santana came over. "Hummel, this has to be the gayest shit I've ever seen." She waved the offensive paper in Kurt's face. "I didn't think you were this much of a flammer. And Klaine? What the hell is that?"

"Porcelain, what in Merlin's name is this wad of rubbish?" Professor Sylvester joined the small group that was now gathered around the Gryffindor table.

Incredulous, Kurt stared at the two boys sitting across from him. "You _didn't_," he said through his teeth, but neither was paying him any attention whatsoever.

They were grinning broadly at their Defense teacher. "Good morning, _Ma'am_," Nick said with false brightness.

Professor Sylvester didn't so much as glance at Nick as she held up the paper for Kurt to see. This one had unicorns all over it in addition to the purple hearts and stars. "Now, admittedly, sometimes I do forget that you are in fact a male, but I gotta tell you that after receiving this, my conscience is clear." She gave a paper a little shake as if to emphasize her point. "Only now I am put in the vastly uncomfortable position of informing Doe Eyes here that he isn't as gay as he thought he was because it's obvious from this hideous paper that he is dating a five year old _girl_ with some sort of sick rainbow fetish." The professor shook her head at Kurt as if he had done the world some sort of great disservice.

She continued, "Finally, and most importantly, the name Klaine makes me want to vomit the very rainbows and unicorns depicted on this devastatingly atrocious parchment. Take that to mean what you will, gentleman."

Kurt sat in stunned silence as Professor Slyvester walked away.

* * *

><p>"Your boybriend id indane," Nick grumbled at Blaine as everyone minus Kurt walked to the Arithmancy classroom.<p>

"Kurt's not insane," Blaine immediately defended Kurt.

"Oh, doh? Jud look ad whad he did do my dose!" Nick yelled. "Again!"

Blaine tried very hard not to laugh.

Jeff, on the other hand, laughed right in Nick's face. "It's _ginormous! Sooo_ much bigger than last time."

Nick took a swing at Jeff and missed.

"You deserved it," Blaine said.

"I thought you said you liked the name Klaine," Jeff argued.

"I do," Blaine insisted. And he did. It was quite possibly the cutest thing ever. "But the notes you left on everyone's pillows was a little much. And creepy. Plus it's Thursday. You know Kurt stays up with me on Wednesday nights, and he's not a morning person on the best of days."

"Whadeber," Nick grouched.

"Mr. Anderson!" a squeaky voice called and the boys all stopped and turned. Professor Flitwaick was running up to them, looking out of breath.

"Are you alright, Professor?" Blaine asked as he worriedly eyed the goblin, who was now doubled over with his hands resting heavily on his knees.

"Fine, fine," Flitwick wheezed. "Getting old, you know." The small man sucked in a breath. "Professor McGonagall wanted me to remind you that the term break is approaching. You haven't indicated whether you would be staying yet and, well…" the Charms Professor trailed off, looking uncomfortable and Blaine knew why.

It was because Blaine always stayed. He was usually the only one in Ravenclaw House who did.

"It's okay, Professor," Blaine tried to reassure the man. "I'll send the official notice as soon as possible. I… forgot."

"Right, right, of course," Flitwick said, still looking rather nervous. "I'll let the Headmistress know… umm, carry on, boys."

The professor hurried off.

Nobody else moved.

They all just stood there in silence. Blaine could hear them breathe slowly in and out and he could imagine the thoughts bludgeoning around in their skulls as they tried to think of something to say. He wanted to move but his feet were rooted to the floor.

Wes broke the silence. "Blaine…"

Wes' voice was like the crack of a whip and immediately Blaine's desire to move overpowered his upset and he pivoted and pushed past his friends. "It's fine, Wes."

They all followed him. "It's not fine," Jeff insisted.

David placed a hand on Blaine's shoulder. "If it were up to us, we would take you back with us. It's just our parents…"

"All think I'm a Dark Wizard," Blaine spat. "Your parents and half the school. I get it."

The school board could cover up the fact that one of Hogwarts' students used and Unforgiveable on another student all they wanted, but they couldn't keep then entire incident a secret. Tyler's screams that day had attracted a lot of attention. And before Blaine had passed out he had been horrified enough at what he had done to make every candle as far as three corridors away explode. He was fairly positive that the students who witnessed it had gossiped themselves stupid at his and Tyler's expense, because when he returned the school the next year everyone was tripping over themselves to make sure he felt happy and accepted, and damned if that hadn't depressed him more because he could see the underlying fear in their eyes.

But none of that was his friends' fault, he reminded himself, and they didn't deserve to be snapped at.

"I'm sorry," Blaine sighed. "I know you guys are just trying to make me feel better."

"Which apparendly we're complede crap ad," Nick scowled at the floor.

"No," Blaine shook his head, "I'm just letting it get to me more than usual. I'll be fine."

David glanced sideways at Blaine. "Maybe you should talk to Kurt about this."

"No," Blaine said immediately. "It would only make him feel even more sorry for me than he already does. Or worse, it will make him sad."

"Blaine…"

"I'll be fine," Blaine insisted.

* * *

><p>"What are you doing for the holidays?" Kurt asked as he and Blaine lounged in the Room of Requirement a few nights after Jeff and Nick's letter stunt. Kurt had finished his last end of term paper earlier that afternoon and he fully intended to laze around until term was over, and Blaine had somehow talked Kurt into letting him play with his beloved hair, which was why Kurt's head was currently in Blaine's lap. He wasn't exactly sure how Blaine had gotten him to agree to it, but even Kurt had to admit that Blaine's fingers felt incredible against his scalp. Not that Kurt would ever let Blaine do it during the day, but still… it was nice.<p>

At Kurt's question though, Blaine's fingers came to a sudden pause and his body tensed up enough so that Kurt could feel it. Kurt frowned and opened his eyes. It was clear from Blaine's facial expression that something was wrong.

"Nick said something to you, didn't he?"

"No… why?"

Blaine shot him a panicked look. "Oh."

Kurt sat up and Blaine didn't try to stop him. "Blaine… we said we'd work on the trust thing, remember?"

"No, I know," Blaine said, frowning at his now empty hands. "It doesn't really have to do with trust."

"Okay… Well, obviously it has something to do with the holiday break since my question upset you, so maybe I should elaborate a bit. Given what you've told me about your family, I doubt that you guys spend a lot of time together over the holiday, if any. Am I right?"

Blaine nodded, still looking nervous. Kurt got the feeling that he was missing something, but he decided not to ask about it just yet.

"So I was wondering if maybe you would like to spend some of the break with me and my family."

Judging from Blaine's shocked expression, he really hadn't been expecting that. "Really?"

Kurt nodded. Then he thought about it and winced. "Well, if I can get my dad's permission, that is," he amended. "But I'm pretty sure I can with Carol's help."

The hope in Blaine's eyes abruptly died. "I don't think she'll want me there."

"Why would you think that?"

"Most parents wouldn't want me in their homes. Not that most students would invite me over to their homes anyway, so I guess it doesn't really matter."

Kurt frowned, confused. "What are you talking about? People go out of their way to say hello to you."

"And why do you think that is?" Blaine snapped. Then he sighed. "Sorry. People are afraid of me. They all think I'm some sort of Dark Wizard after what happened with Tyler. That's why they all come up to me. They all figured that Tyler did something to upset me so I attacked him. None of the guys' parents like that they are friends with me, and I'm not allowed at their houses."

Kurt must have looked as horrified as he felt because Blaine peaked up at him and was quick to add, "I'm used to it, though."

Kurt felt a little ashamed of himself. All those times people had run up to Blaine in the halls to say hi or give him a hug, Kurt had accepted their bullshit without question. He never would have guessed that those friendly greetings hadn't been genuine. Even worse was that he had never realized how uncomfortable that sort of thing made Blaine feel, because it was obvious from the way Blaine spoke about it that it made him uncomfortable.

And yes, Blaine was good at hiding his emotions, but that didn't really excuse Kurt's obliviousness. As Blaine's best friend, and especially now as Blaine's boyfriend, Kurt was supposed to be the one to see past those barriers Blaine constructed around himself.

Kurt reached for Blaine's hand and counted it as a blessing when Blaine didn't pull away. He even smiled a little.

"Carol isn't like that, Blaine, I promise. She won't judge you before she gets to know you no matter what rumors she's heard, if she's even heard any at all. She seemed to like you just fine at the Quidditch match. And if she gets my dad to let you stay with us, I promise no one will make you feel uncomfortable." Kurt caught himself and snorted. "Okay, that's a lie. My dad will probably go out of his way to make you feel uncomfortable, but only because you're my boyfriend and all the straight males in my life seem to think that they need to defend my honor or something." Kurt rolled his eyes.

Blaine's smile widened a fraction. "Have you asked her already?"

Kurt shook his head. "No, but only because I wanted to ask you if your parents would even let you leave in the first place. I don't know if you go away or something." Kurt and Blaine had never discussed it, but Kurt got the feeling that Blaine's family came from a lot of money.

The nervous expression was back on Blaine's face and Kurt tried to be patient when Blaine hesitated. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, obviously struggling to find the right words.

"I… I stay here for the holiday," Blaine finally admitted. "My parents usually go away, but I stay here."

"You mean… always?" Kurt asked, very careful to keep his as neutral as possible.

Blaine nodded.

"Even before you came out?"

"Yes. I don't have to stay here if I don't want to, though. My father leaves that up to me. He just signs the paper indicating whether I'll be staying or going and leaves the rest of it blank for me to fill out. So, I could go home if I wanted to, but… that house is so big. And it's really lonely. Not that Hogwarts isn't big or lonely during the holiday, because it is. It's usually just me in the Tower, but at least Hogwarts feels like home to me. I feel safe here." Blaine shrugged. "And I don't know, I guess it's kind of fun to watch the professors get completely pissed on Christmas Eve. It's not all bad."

Kurt didn't have to be a rocket scientist to tell that Blaine was lying. It was most definitely all bad. "Blaine… would you like to come home with me for break?"

Blaine only hesitated for a few seconds. "More than anything else in the world."

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**

**Alrighty… so Blaine is going home with Kurt for Christmas! Yay! The holiday break is actually going to span a couple of chapters I think, though it shouldn't be more than two. The beginning of next chapter is going to include the visit to Hogsmeade. They have to buy presents, of course. And Blaine will want to buy something to thank the Hummel-Hudsons for letting him stay with them. But after that it's off to Carol and Burt's in Devon. **

**Something I feel I should warn you guys about now that Kurt and Blaine are officially together… this story is rated M, and I don't know when it's going to happen exactly, but I AM going to include their sexual relationship in this. I'm nervous about posting smut, because in my experience smut in fanfiction either enhances the story or just makes it super corny. I'd rather not fall into the corny category, but I'm going to take the risk because it will be important to their development as a couple over all. I just wanted to give you all fair warning in case anyone has a problem with reading about sex, in which case you can certainly skip over it once it becomes a more prominent part of the story. I will give warning at the beginning of chapters that include smut, so no one gets blindsided. **

**And finally, thank you to 'perchance to wake' for pointing out some things I forgot to mention in the last chapter regarding the consequences Blaine should have faced for using an Unforgivable. Since Blaine was a minor, he wouldn't have gone to Azkaban for using the Cruciatus, but normally he would have been banned from using magic and expelled from school (like in Hagrid's situation), but as Blaine said, the doctors determined he was emotionally compromised by his father's potions and not in the right state of mind, so no wand snapping for poor Blaine. Another thing 'perchance to wake' also pointed out... Blaine's father seems to have gotten away with drugging his son scot-free. My response is yes, he certainly has and there is a reason why that will be revealed later in the story. So sorry to anyone else who might have been confused!  
><strong>

**If you read through all of that, you are a gentleperson and a scholar and my imaginary hat is off to you. **

**Hopefully I'll get the next chapter out faster than this one… midterms have been kicking my ass and sucking up all my free time :( **

**-Cerez**


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: Since we have only seen the one Klaine kiss, we can all safely assume I have not been given ownership rights of _Glee_. And as far as _Harry Potter_ goes, seeing as how I still only have about five dollars in my bank account, I seriously doubt I own that either. (In a couple weeks I might have to change the first part of this. Here's hoping!)

**** Okay… I think this chapter may need a warning for some extreme creepiness thanks to Chase, who is a very sick individual. I've hinted at that in past chapters, but it's really obvious and out in the open in this one. Blaine and Chase's relationship is an incredibly damaging one, so please be warned that there are some pretty dark themes ahead even though most of the chapter is pretty fluffy  
><strong>

* * *

><p>Because of their conversation from a couple weeks before, Kurt had taken to watching every single person who came up to Blaine in the halls like a hawk — or possibly, dare he say it, like an overprotective boyfriend, which was a role that he never would have expected to play.<p>

Seeing the caution and unease in people's eyes as they came up to Blaine and said this or did that made Kurt feel even worse than he had felt when Blaine was describing it to him. He wondered again at how he had never noticed it before because now that he knew what to look for, it seemed so damn obvious. Their mannerisms were too bright, too enthusiastic. They were too quick to smile, to laugh, to agree with anything and everything Blaine said.

And when they weren't being fake to Blaine's face, they watched him closely from afar. Kurt used to think that people would watch Blaine just because he was Blaine — because he was someone they all seemed to like and idolize. But now all Kurt could see was the calculating way they watched Blaine, as if they expected him to snap at any moment. They were wary of him.

And then of course there was Blaine's reaction to it all. Kurt wanted to kick himself for having been so clueless every time Blaine tensed because someone moron came up and said hi in that clipped tone that had once sounded so warm and genuine to Kurt's ears. He hated watching the way Blaine would shrink ever so slightly into himself under the heat of everyone's stares.

Even worse was that Kurt would have to really _look_ for a sign of Blaine's discomfort (which was usually only evident by a very subtle tensing of his shoulders), otherwise Blaine would appear to be completely at ease. It didn't take Kurt long to discover that the more uncomfortable Blaine felt, the more efficient he became at hiding his discomfort. It was and unsettling thing to watch.

Blaine had an uncanny ability to look and act happy on the outside while he screamed himself raw on the inside.

It broke Kurt's heart. Blaine was a beautiful person. He was so kind and loving. He never snapped at any of the people who hurt him. For that reason alone he didn't deserve to be feared and deceived.

Kurt, on the other hand wasn't so nice. He had taken to glaring menacingly at anyone who came in Blaine's direction with a fake smile on their face. He was damn good at it too. While his features were soft and delicate, cold anger was a particularly frightening look on him, possibly _because_ of how soft and delicate his features were. It worked to his advantage in the sense that some people were starting to leave Blaine alone.

Still, Blaine had people who cared about him. Kurt, of course, loved Blaine and made sure to tell him so multiple times a day. The Gryffindor kids liked Blaine well enough, especially Brittany, who was very open about the fact that she considered Blaine to be a very special friend of hers; Kurt knew Blaine thought the same of her. The Ravenclaw boys obviously adored him (no matter what their parents thought of him), as did everyone on the Quidditch team. Kurt was trying his best to get Blaine to focus on the fact that he wasn't completely without friends at Hogwarts.

Three days before the second trip to Hogsmeade was scheduled, Kurt and Blaine were sitting on Blaine's four poster bed studying for mid-year exams (which according to Nick made them a very boring couple) when Pavarotti pecked at the closed window to be let in. The tiny little owl looked completely tuckered out and Kurt rushed to relieve his friend of a letter from Carole that was almost twice Pavarotti's size. Free of his burden, Pavarotti flew straight to his cage and plopped down to relax.

"Poor little guy," Blaine said, frowning.

Kurt had to agree. "Usually Carole shrinks the letters so he doesn't have to work so hard to carry them."

"It was snowing pretty hard yesterday," Blaine reminded him. "He might have had to stop for a while and the spell could have worn off," he said, but his eyes were trained hard on the letter in Kurt's hands. "Is that about whether I can go home with you?"

"Probably," Kurt nodded. "I'll read it out loud." As he opened the letter, he added, "You don't have to look so nervous. There's really no way that she said no."

"We won't know that for sure until you read it."

"Well, I'm sure," Kurt insisted, and Carole didn't disappoint:

_Of course Blaine can come stay with us!_ _I can't very well let him stay in that Tower all by himself, now can I? So long as he gets permission from his parents, he is very welcome, and you go ahead and tell him I said so. Your father isn't overly thrilled with the idea of your boyfriend staying over, but he agrees that no one should be alone on Christmas, so that is that. I made him promise not to harass Blaine too much, but I'm sure yours and my definition of 'too much' is very different from your father's, so we'll have to keep an eye on him. I don't want Blaine to feel uncomfortable. Being separated from his family during the holidays probably won't be easy on him, so we'll have to do everything within our power to give him as happy a Christmas as we possibly can. Though, I really do have to wonder at how Blaine's parents are okay with leaving him all alone._

_Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing you, Kurt. And Blaine. And please tell my son that short letters are better than no letters at all, and that he should write his mother if he expects to receive any presents this year. _

_Love, _

_Carole_

"There, you see?" Kurt asked once he was finished. "No reason to worry."

But Blaine was staring at him slack jawed and slightly wide eyed.

"What?"

"You… You told them I was your boyfriend?"

"Of course." Kurt frowned. "Should I not have?"

"No, but…"

"But what, Blaine?"

Blaine sat in silence for a moment. "I know… it's just… we've never really said that out loud before when referring to each other."

"Boyfriend?"

Blaine nodded.

Kurt scrunched up his nose as he thought back. "Yeah, I guess not."

Blaine smiled and ran his forefinger down Kurt's still wrinkled nose. "It's really, really cute when you do that."

Kurt blushed. "You are the biggest sap."

"Only for you." Blaine batted his eyelashes at him.

Kurt rolled his eyes. "I rest my case."

"I wasn't disputing against it," Blaine said with a laugh that sounded suspiciously like a giggle.

"Good because you would have lost."

Blaine folded his arms against his chest and raised an eyebrow. "Oh you think so?"

"I do," Kurt said haughtily. "And I'll raise your 'think so' to a 'know so.'"

Blaine grinned. "Challenge accepted, then."

"What challenge?"

"Proving that you are just as sappy as I am which would mean that I'm not the biggest sap after all."

Kurt snorted rather loudly. "Good luck with that."

"Why thank you. Good to know that you're going to be a good sport about this."

"Anyway," Kurt said, shooting Blaine a look to get him back on track. "I don't think we'll mention that your parents won't have any idea that you're staying with us," he said as he skimmed Carole's letter once more.

"Oh, no, I hadn't thought of that," Blaine said, looking panicked. "What if they ask me if my parents are okay with it? I don't think I can lie."

"I don't see why they would ask you that. The fact that you will be leaving the school in the first place shows that you got permission."

"But I didn't."

"No one will know that but us. Besides, your father _did_ leave the box indicating whether you would be staying or going unchecked, so technically he gave you permission to leave if you wanted to. So if for some reason they _do_ ask, you won't really have to lie."

It was clear from Blaine's face that he wasn't satisfied with that bit of logic. "I wish I didn't have to lie at all. I wish I could tell my parents that I have a boyfriend. It's not fair to you that I can't do that. It's like I'm hiding you because I'm ashamed of you and I promise I'm not." Blaine's eyes pleaded with Kurt to understand. "I'd never be ashamed of you."

"I know, Blaine. I know you're not. I don't care that they don't know about me."

"But that's not fair," Blaine repeated himself.

"I don't need fair," Kurt said, looking hard at Blaine. "I need you and I need us. Everything else is unimportant, okay?"

Blaine moved to cuddle against Kurt, and Kurt immediately responded by wrapping his arms around him.

"Okay."

* * *

><p>"Kurt! Look! What about this one?"<p>

Kurt looked up from the amazingly crafted figurine of a bowing Hippogriff to find Blaine holding a perfectly sculpted baby centaur with sparkling green eyes and the most precious expression on his face as he looked down at tiny faerie he held in his small hands. Every few seconds the little centaur would lean down and nuzzle the faerie, who would laugh and stand up on her tiptoes to hug his cheek. It was a beautiful piece, and Kurt was positive that Carole would absolutely adore it, which was important given the fact that she was the one who they were shopping for.

"It's beautiful," Kurt said honestly. "But everything in here is really expensive."

Blaine scoffed. "The price doesn't matter to me. Just… do you think she'll like it?"

A few days after Carole's letter had arrived, Blaine had gotten it into his head that he had to thank Kurt's family for letting him stay with them by buying each of them a present. Kurt had tried to assure Blaine that no one expected him to do any such thing, but Blaine had been adamant; as soon as they had gotten to Hogsmeade Blaine had given Kurt about five seconds to look around in awe at the snowy village before dragging him to what Kurt could only describe as the wizard's equivalent of a ceramics shop. Not that Kurt minded, because the little shop housed an infinite number of skillfully crafted figurines that were just as magical as the village itself.

But now Blaine was ready to purchase one of those little ceramic masterpieces for a woman he had met only once and Kurt was going to have to lie in order to get his boyfriend to put it back.

But to Kurt's utter dismay, Blaine's expression was just as sweet as the little centaur's, if not sweeter. Kurt couldn't lie to that face. "She'll love it," he sighed.

Blaine smiled a proud smile. "Then this is the one. I'm going to go pay."

Kurt followed after his boyfriend. "You really, really don't have to do this, you know."

"But I want to," Blaine insisted as they stopped at the payment desk.

"This it, sweet?" the middle aged witch on the other side of the desk asked Blaine.

"Yes," he said, still smiling proudly. "Would it be too much trouble to have it giftwrapped?"

"Oh, aren't you precious?" the woman gushed, eating Blaine and is impeccable manors up with a Blaine Anderson sized spoon. "Of course I can wrap it for you."

Blaine turned to Kurt with an excited grin that very clearly said, 'She thinks I'm precious!'

Kurt rolled his eyes and tried his hardest not to smile.

After Blaine paid and his wrapped package was carefully tucked under his arm, Blaine grabbed Kurt's hand and they exited the shop. The snow crunched under their feet as they walked and Kurt couldn't help but think that he loved the sound. He found himself feeling awestruck once again. Hogsmeade in winter was truly breathtaking. The sparkling snow looked beautiful on the brown rooftops and somehow made the village look cozier despite how utterly freezing it was outside.

"Okay, so keep going," Blaine stated, indicating that he wanted to carry on their conversation from earlier, which had been interrupted when Blaine started gushing over all the figurines in the ceramics stop. "When do you open presents?"

After Kurt had read Carole's letter to Blaine about five more times, the fact that they would be spending Christmas together really seemed to sink in. He had been grilling Kurt for the past few days on what exactly a Hummel-Hudson Christmas entailed, which Kurt could answer only to a certain extent. It would be Kurt and Burt's second Christmas spent with Carole and Finn, but their first Christmas together as an official family.

"My dad and I used to open them on Christmas morning, but last year we opened them Christmas Eve night since Carol and Finn tended to do it then and they had to be back in Devon on Christmas morning anyway. So, I'm not really sure if we'll continue to do it that way or not. Do you have a specific day you usually open presents on?" Kurt asked. After all, Carole _had_ said that they needed to do everything they could to make this Christmas special for Blaine.

"Not really," Blaine shrugged. "The elves and I usually open presents on Christmas morning, but I don't think what day we open them really makes any difference."

"The elves?"

"The house-elves. I always give them presents. I've been doing it ever since I can remember," he said, frowning in thought. "I guess it started with the family house-elves. My parents always went away, and spending Christmas alone in your room is just super depressing, so I hung out with the Elves instead. I wasn't allowed to give them clothing or anything like that, but I drew them some horribly drawn pictures and sang them songs and shared my Christmas candy with them."

Oh. How to respond to that? "That sounds…" Kurt tried to think of an appropriate word that wouldn't be a boldfaced lie.

"Really pathetic, I know. But I had a really good time with them," Blaine insisted then rolled his eyes. "Or at least I did until my father found out I had made friends with our 'servants' and had them all sent away. Tanny — she was one of the family elves — works at the castle now, so I still see her at least." Blaine grinned. "She's the one who called me Blainey-Blaine and nearly wrung my neck with her hug of death."

Kurt remembered. He also remembered thinking that particular elf was insane and way too clingy. She always hovered around Blaine like a little mother. It made more sense now, though. She was probably more of a mother to Blaine than his own mother was.

Blaine's expression fell. "I'm going to miss her. I always spend Christmas with her…"

Kurt rubbed small circles into Blaine's hand with his thumb. "We can say goodbye before we leave if you like."

"Definitely," Blaine nodded, his demeanor brightening once more. "I have to give her the candy I'm going to buy for her, anyway. Most of the elves have an addiction to chocolate so I always get them some. I put a ribbon in Tanny's box, though, because she's my favorite and she loves them." Blaine grinned. "When I was little she would tie them in my hair."

Kurt barked out a laugh at the mental image that conjured. "I wish I could have seen that. Do you have a picture?"

"No, but you'll get to see it anyway. She still does it. It's fun."

Kurt made a mental note to be sure he had his iPod with him when they went to see Tanny so he could get a picture. "Did you buy the ribbon yet?" Kurt wanted to know.

"Nope."

"You think I could get her one too?"

Blaine paused. "You would do that?"

Kurt nodded at Blaine's awed expression. "Of course. She's obviously very special to you, so as far as I'm concerned, she deserves all the ribbons she can get."

Blaine positively beamed at him. "I really, really love you, Kurt."

Kurt's stomach did that deep swooping thing the way it always did whenever Blaine said 'I love you' first. "I love you too."

Blaine grinned. "I want to share a milkshake with you."

Kurt raised a brow. "Blaine, it's December. Also, that was really random."

"So? Milk shakes are amazing all of the time. We can share it and sip out of two straws and be all gooey with each other. And it isn't random; you just made me really happy and as a result I'm in a romantic kind of a mood, and there is absolutely nothing that's more romantic than sharing a milkshake."

"I made you happy, huh?" Kurt asked, grinning.

"Incandescently so. So… milkshake?"

Kurt scrunched up his nose in thought. "Define 'all gooey with each other' first."

Blaine laughed and came to a stop. "Like this," he said as he grabbed Kurt and turned him so that they were face to face. Then Blaine proceeded to stare at Kurt with a dopey love struck expression on his face.

Kurt laughed and batted Blaine's hands away to free himself. "Fine, but make the milkshake a hot chocolate."

"Deal."

* * *

><p>"Blaine," Kurt hissed as he glared down at his boyfriend. "Get up."<p>

"No way. I'm quite content as I am."

Given the ridiculously stupid grin on Blaine's face, Kurt would say that much was evident.

"People are staring at you," Kurt tried a different approach. It was true; people _were_ staring. With gaping mouths and everything. Not that Kurt blamed them. It wasn't exactly a normality to come across a person lying in the snow in the middle of a heavily populated shopping area.

But Blaine obviously didn't care that he was being stared at because he merely lifted himself partly up so that he was resting on his forearms and grinned happily at Kurt. "Come on. Make a snow faerie with me."

"What are you, insane? We're in the middle of the street. Get up before someone steps on you."

"No one is going to step on me. Now get down here."

"You're crazy."

Blaine pouted. "You promised you would make one with me, Kurt. And everyone knows that you can't just break a promise. Especially not to your boyfriend."

"I believe what I said was 'maybe.' Now I am saying absolutely not."

"Please, love? Just one. It can be your Christmas gift to me."

"That would be a very lousy Christmas gift," Kurt deadpanned. Besides, he figured that Blaine would appreciate the Quidditch play book signed by all of the Holyhead Harpies Kurt had ordered a lot more than he would a snow angel given that Blaine loved Quidditch and the Harpies were his favorite team. Blaine had better like it, too. Kurt had sold no less than five outfits to get the money for it. He was just lucky that the Harpies had been so poorly ever since Ginny Potter and Gwenog Jones left or it would have cost a lot more.

"Not so," Blaine disagreed. "In fact, it's all I want. I'll smile real big if you do," he promised.

"Oh, you mean like how you are right now?"

Blaine immediately forced his features into an over exaggerated frown. It was a bit of a fail, though, because his lips kept twitching and his eyes were laughing. "I'm not smiling."

Blaine was a pip, Kurt decided. But there was just no way. "Snow is wet, Blaine. I'm not laying in it. Especially not in the middle of the road in front of a bunch of people. And don't you dare take off your jacket because it's too cold."

"You could lie on top of me instead."

They both turned instantly red.

"I mean… that didn't sound right…"

"It really didn't," Kurt agreed and leaned down to offer Blaine a hand up, which he took, still blushing.

Once he was up, they both looked down at the impression he had made in the snow. "I did a good job," Blaine observed as he moved to rest his chin on Kurt's shoulder.

"You did," Kurt said as he tilted his head to lean his head against Blaine's. "Come on. We still have to get our hot chocolate."

After they had each gotten a ribbon for Tanny, they had been on their way to The Three Broomsticks, which was where the best hot chocolate was sold according to Blaine, when they passed by a Quidditch supply shop and stopped inside at Blaine's insistence. Kurt had worried that Blaine would unknowingly buy the same book Kurt had gotten him for Christmas (even though it probably wouldn't have been autographed), but Blaine had been shopping for Burt and Finn instead of for himself.

Kurt wasn't sure how or why, but somehow that had led to Blaine making a spectacle of himself in the middle of the road. Kurt tried not to question it too much. He had stopped trying to make sense of Blaine's random bursts of crazed energy around the second time Blaine had suddenly jumped up on one of the tables in the common room and started singing.

"We can do that," Blaine said softly, his warm breath fanning against Kurt's cold cheek.

They walked into The Three Broomsticks and Blaine went to get them a table while Kurt joined the impossibly long line to get their drinks.

While he was waiting for Kurt, Blaine looked over all of the things he had bought for Kurt's family. Carol hadn't been too difficult to shop for. She seemed to be the sweetest woman ever, so Blaine had used that knowledge to his advantage when thinking up gift possibilities for her. The little figurine shop had been the obvious choice. Everything in there was beautifully crafted.

Finn had been even easier. Blaine had bought him a new beater's bat and gloves since his own were looking a little worse for wear these days. Nick and Jeff would probably go mental if they knew that Blaine was buying new equipment for the competition, but what they didn't know wouldn't hurt them.

That, of course, left Burt.

From the brief time he had spent with Kurt's father, Blaine got the impression that Burt Hummel was even more proud of his son than even Kurt knew. So when he had seen a large Quidditch Jersey that said 'Proud Father of a Quidditch Player' written on the back, Blaine figured it was kind of the perfect gift. He just hoped that it wasn't too silly or anything.

Kurt had freaked out over the cost Blaine racked up, but the expense didn't matter to him. He had more money than he knew what to do with anyway. It might as well go towards a good cause.

Besides, he had money to spare since Kurt's gift hadn't cost him so much as a knut. Blaine had made it himself and he really hoped that Kurt would like it. Not that Blaine thought Kurt was high maintenance or anything, because for all his expensive designer labeled clothing, he really wasn't. But compared to the amazing store bought gifts Kurt would undoubtedly receive from his friends and family, Blaine's gift would be rather simple. It was the sentiment behind it that made it special.

A familiar warm hand fell on the back of Blaine's and broke him from his thoughts. It made Blaine feel as cold as ice. Somewhat frantically, he looked up to search for Kurt, who was thankfully still on pretty far back on line and facing away from Blaine.

The fingers on Blaine's neck curled to lightly drag across his skin.

"Go away, Chase," Blaine said in a clipped tone.

Chase hummed a laugh that had no humor in it. "Hello, Blaine."

Blaine kept his eyes fixed on Kurt, thinking that maybe if he kept looking at beautiful, loving Kurt, that more sinister part of him that crept to the surface whenever Chase was nearby would stay hidden. But then Chase scratched at his skin again and Blaine felt himself begin to anticipate the game they were about to play… the game during which each of them tried their best to hurt the other and enjoyed doing it.

Chase leaned in close and his voice dropped to a whisper. "I wonder what he would say if he knew how many times I fucked you."

Blaine's back snapped back and his stomach was pierced with an acid-like pain. He should have anticipated that Chase would say something like that. He should have remembered that while Kurt made him so, so happy, Kurt also made him extremely vulnerable. Kurt was a tool Chase could use expertly well to hurt Blaine.

Blaine had been pretty stupid this past month. He hadn't thought much about Chase at all. They hadn't spoken a single word to each other since that day in the Chamber, and Blaine had stupidly allowed his happiness with Kurt to make him foolishly comfortable when he should have been on edge and looking over his shoulder. Undoubtedly he would have found Chase standing there, watching him silently.

Chase chuckled in Blaine's ear. He was much too close and Kurt could turn around at any moment, if even just to smile at Blaine. But what could Blaine do? The words were stuck in his throat and pressing uncomfortably against his skin from the inside. He couldn't bring himself to claw them out.

Chase angled his head so that their cheeks were not quite touching, but close enough together so that Blaine felt as if they really ought to be. It was maddening. It made him feel tense and trapped inside of his own skin.

"If you could only see how uncomfortable you look," Chase said in an amused tone. "You make it so very obvious that he has no idea about us. I do wonder though: have you let him fuck you yet, Blaine? That would make his ignorance so much worse, wouldn't it? I wonder if he even knows that you're not a virgin."

Chase shifted behind Blaine so that he could whisper in Blaine's other ear. "But I don't think he's fucked you yet. Fucking you was always felt like kicking a wounded puppy no matter how much you wanted it, and he doesn't look corrupted enough to have seen that side of you yet. I wonder if seeing that will scare him off. Let's hope not, because that's the only way you're conditioned to be; it's not just that you give and never take, it's that you give until there's nothing left. Except for that one time when you took more than you should have and we all know how well that ended for you… or should I say for Tyler."

Blaine hadn't realized just how much he had come to depend on Kurt's acceptance of his past crimes until now. He wasn't used to hearing the harsh truth about his past anymore. He had gotten so swept away with Kurt's gentle touches and reassuring 'I love you's that always sounded so much like a promises that he had left himself open to attack, and now he was drowning in Chase's words.

Blaine felt dangerously overwhelmed in a way that he hadn't felt in a very long time, and for the first time in a long time he had no idea how to regain the upper hand. He didn't want to play anymore. Chase was usually better at the game than he was, and now that Blaine had Kurt, Chase would be that much better at it. He could do any number of things to Blaine now… demand sex in exchange for keeping the specifics of their relationship a secret from Kurt, order Blaine to break up with Kurt for the same reasons…

The mere thought of his relationship being controlled in that way made Blaine so horribly angry that he felt completely calm, untouchable and dangerously uncaring. The useful anger tapped out Blaine's fear and cleared his mind.

"You won't say anything," Blaine said, and even though his tone was void of emotion, it oozed confidence.

Chase laughed, but this time it sounded just a little bit nervous. "Is that what you think?"

Blaine shrugged. He felt cold and indifferent. "It is."

Chase tensed and then shivered.

Fear and excitement. It was the basis of their relationship.

Blaine scared Chase, and Chase _liked_ it. Liked it because even though Chase felt afraid, at least he felt _something_; and in turn, Blaine liked that Chase feared him because it made Blaine feel a little less powerless and out of control. Neither of them would feel their respective highs for very long, but the lack of longevity didn't matter. They both craved it too much to care how short lived it was. Blaine knew he would feel disgusted with himself for it later.

"I think you should go," Blaine said quietly, dangerously. Kurt would be ordering their drinks soon.

Chase shivered once last time and had to have the last word. Blaine let him have it, knowing that it would make them both normal again. "I won't give you an ultimatum. You're too unpredictable when cornered. Like a wounded animal. Take that as proof that I don't underestimate you the way that you underestimate me. But you won't be doing that again will you, Blaine?"

Blaine didn't say anything and he forced himself not to shake his head 'no' like an obedient puppet. Instead he focused on staring at the back of Kurt's head, and since he wasn't close enough to really see, he simply imagined all of the different shades of brown that he knew were twisted into Kurt's hair like some sort of earthy masterpiece. Chase shoved Blaine's shoulders a little bit before walking away.

Without Chase there to confuse his emotions and make him angry, Blaine felt sick. It was a familiar feeling. A very strong desire to get up from the table and bring Kurt back to the castle so they could hide away in the Room of Requirement took hold of him. His leg muscles even tensed to push his body up, but he fought it. After all, if he acted on that particular impulse, Kurt would no doubt have questions that Blaine was not ready to answer.

Blaine wasn't delusional. He was very much aware that his relationship with Chase was twisted both physically and emotionally. The problem was that Blaine had immersed himself so deep inside of the darkness that he no longer remembered how to find his way out.

Blaine would never cheat on Kurt. He hadn't returned to the Chamber since he and Kurt had gotten together and so long as they remained together, Blaine knew that he never, ever would. But even if the physical aspect of his and Chase's relationship was over, obviously the emotional part wasn't. Blaine didn't love Chase. He never had, and he never would. But some small part of him needed Chase. He craved how powerful Chase made him feel and he didn't know how to stop.

Well, that wasn't exactly true. So long as Blaine and Chase weren't alone together, Blaine didn't feel the need to play their sick little emotional game. But Chase obviously needed it whether they were together or not, and the Slytherin obviously wasn't going to allow himself to be ignored.

The obvious way to handle the problem was to tell Kurt everything, but the very idea of it terrified Blaine. How could he ask Kurt, or anyone for that matter, to understand? This was different than what he had done to Tyler. With Tyler, Blaine hadn't been in his right mind, and he had his father's potions to thank for that (not that knowing that spared Blaine from feeling guilty). But there was no outside influence when it came to his relationship with Chase. No one had made Blaine have sex with Chase, not even Chase. Blaine had done it on his own, and for reasons he only _wished_ he didn't understand. The truth was that he had figured out why a long time ago, and then he had promised himself that he would never think about it again. It was too self-damaging. But if he wanted Kurt to understand, he would have to explain why to Kurt. He would have to say it out loud. And that scared him too.

Blaine wondered how much longer they would avoid the subject of sex. Kurt was obviously clueless about it. Blaine didn't really know too much about it either, other than that he certainly didn't enjoy it. But Kurt was brave. Blaine had always known that. And as uncomfortable as the subject of sex made Kurt, eventually Kurt was going to force himself to ask. And what would Blaine say?

Kurt dropped into the seat across from Blaine. "This had better be the best damn hot chocolate ever, because I was waiting on that frigging line forever."

Blaine's stomach jerked and he forced himself to look into Kurt's eyes. Kurt saw through it, of course. Kurt was an expert at reading Blaine's emotions.

"What's wrong?"

Looking into Kurt's eyes, Blaine knew that he would have to tell him and that he would have to trust Kurt completely to do it. To be honest, though, Blaine wasn't sure if he did. He certainly trusted Kurt more than he had ever trust anyone else. But completely? And not only that, but so completely that he trusted Kurt enough to love him no matter what? Blaine didn't know if he knew how to do that. And how would he know if he already did?

Or he could just tell Kurt right now, trust be damned. They were secluded enough. Blaine had purposely picked a table that was out of the way. You would have to really look around to spot them. He had done it because he knew that Kurt was uncomfortable with being too affectionate in public, and sharing a drink together was definitely affectionate. But Kurt had agreed to do it anyway. Because Kurt was wonderful.

Blaine opened his mouth. "I…" Can't. Not yet. "I'm just nervous. I want your family to like what I got them." It was a half-truth. The most insignificant truth in light of what had just happened.

Kurt smiled in that kind, reassuring way of his. It always made Blaine's heart beat like crazy. Kurt was so, so beautiful. "They'll love them. Please stop worrying. Okay? Besides, look what I got you." Kurt pointed to the glass in the middle of the table. In it were two straws. One was plain, straight, and white. The other was bright pink and curled over and under itself. "That tacky-assed thing is for you," Kurt said, pointing at the pink straw.

Blaine simply couldn't stop himself from smiling. His boyfriend was so utterly adorable. Blaine loved him so much. One day, Blaine decided, he would tell Kurt. He would. But not today. And not tomorrow. But he _would_ tell him. And hope beyond hope that Kurt didn't hate him for it.

* * *

><p>"Kurt, should I bring my trunk or just pack a bag? I don't want to take up too much space, but if I pack a bag then I'll need to shrink all my clothes so they fit and I really suck at the Diminuendo charm and I'll probably end up ruining all of my clothes. Then I'll only have one outfit and I'll wind up smelling really bad and your parents will hate me."<p>

It was the night before they would be leaving Hogwarts for Devon and Blaine was beginning to sound like Rachel. He barely took a breath between sentences anymore and everything came out in a nervous, gasping rush that had the veins protruding from his neck by the time he was finished. He was driving Kurt absolutely crazy and it was lucky for Blaine that his freak outs were so endearing otherwise Kurt probably would have killed him days ago. Watching Blaine worry constantly at his bottom lip just did things to Kurt's heart.

"Blaine," Kurt said, making sure to pause until he had Blaine's full attention. Only when Blaine was looking directly at him did he continue. "We don't live in a box. Both you and your trunk will fit just fine, I assure you."

"Are you absolutely sure, because I can—"

"Blaine!" Kurt rose above Blaine's panicked voice. "I'm sure."

And there Blaine went worrying at his bottom lip again. Kurt kind of wanted to bite it. The thought made him blush. God, what the hell was wrong with him lately?

"Okay," Blaine said, still sounding uncertain. "Okay. Then I guess I'm all packed," he said as he studied the contents of his trunk. "I just need to—" He cut himself off with a panicked gasp.

"What?" Kurt asked wearily after a moment's hesitation. He had briefly considered keeping silent, but then Blaine would undoubtedly work himself into a frenzy.

"You know, I don't even _own_ a bag. What would I have done if you said that the trunk wouldn't fit?"

Kurt couldn't help it. He laughed right in Blaine's face. "Oh my god, Blaine! You seriously need to calm the hell down." _And stop biting your damn lip because it's making me crazy._

Blaine sighed and sat down at the edge of his bed. He let his head fall into his hands with an audible clap of skin. "I know. It's just… I've never stayed with someone else before. I don't want to be a burden or anything."

Kurt sat down next to his boyfriend and kissed Blaine's cheek. "You could never be a burden. You're much too small for that."

Blaine snorted and shoved Kurt gently with his shoulder. "Not nice."

David and Wes walked in the room and froze at the sight of Kurt and Blaine sitting on the bed.

"Is he freaking out again?" Wes asked.

"Because we can leave," David said.

Blaine scowled. "Thanks for the support, guys."

Kurt mimicked Blaine's expression and glowered at the two boys. "You know, all of you have left me alone with him all week. I've had to deal with his five hundred kinds of crazy all by myself, and let me tell you, the complete lack of assistance has not been appreciated."

"Hey!" Blaine protested.

The door opened a crack and a hand that looked like it belonged to Jeff slipped through. A white cloth hung from his fingers and he waved it around in a sign of surrender. "Is it safe to come in, or is Blaine having one of his loony fits?"

Blaine folded his arms against his chest and started muttering to himself.

From the other side of the door, Kurt heard Thad sigh loudly. "Stop being an imbecile, Jeffery, and move. I'm tired and I want to go to sleep."

"Aw, muffin-cake, I'm sorry."

"_Move_."

"I just love it when you're forceful."

Thad must have shoved Jeff in because the blonde came stumbling into the room mid-cackle followed closely by Thad and Nick. Jeff steadied himself on Wes, who shoved him back towards Nick, who caught his friend.

"Nice touch with the flag," Kurt said dryly.

Jeff grinned like the fool he was. "I've been waiting to do that all week."

"Every last one of you is mean to me," Blaine said, pouting. Kurt's eyes zeroed in on Blaine's mouth. What was it with Blaine and his bottom lip? He was always doing something with it.

Nick ruffled Blaine's hair. "Aw, we're just taking the mickey out."

Blaine snorted and the boys took a few more jabs at Blaine's expense before Kurt took pity on him and sent them away to their respective beds. Blaine sighed and flopped backwards on his own bed. "I don't know why I put up with any of you. I constantly get made fun of."

"Well, I don't know about them, but you get kisses from me so…" He was in an oddly teasing and playful mood. Blaine might be freaking out over the fact that in less than twelve hours they would be on the Hogwarts Express heading back to London, but Kurt was just about bouncing off the walls with excitement.

Blaine looked a little surprised at Kurt's statement before he giggled and puckered his lips up to an obnoxious degree. Then, just in case Kurt didn't get the message, Blaine tapped his forefinger to them twice to indicate that he would like some of the aforementioned kisses.

Kurt shook his head, but leaned down just the same. He had intended to keep it short, but Blaine latched his arms around Kurt's neck like some sort of leech and held tight. Kurt made a kind of squealing noise that he wasn't exactly proud of and tried to pull away. Blaine, who was laughing against Kurt's mouth, wouldn't let him go as he smooshed their lips together in a way that was anything but romantic.

"Blaine!" Kurt protested as best he could with their mouths mashed together, though he was hard pressed not to laugh. Blaine acted so silly sometimes.

After a few more seconds, Blaine pulled away, still laughing. "I'm sorry, love."

Kurt snorted and wiped his mouth. "You're abusive is what you are. I'm going to have bruises."

Blaine giggled. "I can kiss them better."

"I think I've had about enough of your kisses for one evening, thank you very much."

"No, no, I'll be good." And to prove it, Blaine gently gripped the back of Kurt's neck and proceeded to trace Kurt's lips with feather-light kisses that had Kurt swooning in Blaine's arms. "All better?" Blaine asked after a while.

Kurt nodded mutely, still feeling lightheaded and dizzy.

Blaine leaned his head back and stared at the ceiling of his bed. His eyes grew serious. "I hope they like me."

"They'll love you, Blaine. I promise."

"But you can't promise that, not really."

Kurt sighed. "You're right. I can't. But I promise that I have a strong feeling that they will. And even if by some small chance that they don't — which I highly doubt — I'll still love you no matter what."

Blaine looked doubtful. "But you love your family. You can't tell me that you won't value their opinion."

"I do value their opinion. But I value my own opinion, too. And my own opinion is that you're amazing."

Blaine didn't look completely reassured, but a genuine smile reached his eyes and lips and Kurt couldn't really have asked for more than that.

"I love you, Kurt."

"I love you, too," Kurt said immediately and loved the way Blaine's eyes lit up at the words. "Now go to sleep, okay?" he said as he got up from Blaine's bed so that he could go to his own.

"Ugh," Blaine whined. "I'm never going to be able to sleep," he said, but he did sleep. Both that night and with his head resting in Kurt's lap on the train the next day while Kurt showed their friends the truly adorable pictures he had taken of Blaine with Tanny's Christmas ribbons tied in his curls.

Nick and Jeff found the pictures hilarious.

"Kurtle, you have to give me one of those," Nick pleaded. "Can you take that picture out of your rectangle thing and make it into an actual picture I can hold?"

Kurt rolled his eyes. Why they all insisted upon calling his iPod 'rectangle thing' he would never know. He _knew_ that they all knew the proper name for the device by now. "I could, but why?"

"Blackmail!" Jeff said as if that should be perfectly obvious.

Kurt snorted. "Blackmail. Are you serious? Have you forgotten who we're talking about? Blaine thinks these are adorable. He wants one in a frame."

Blaine mumbled in his sleep and turned to his other side so that his nose was buried against Kurt's stomach.

"Dummy," Kurt said as he gently nudged Blaine's cheek with his knuckles. "Stop trying to suffocate yourself."

"Mm'not, love," Blaine said, though he was still asleep for the most part.

Kurt smiled affectionately at his boyfriend.

"Ugh," Nick complained. "You two make my stomach ache."

"Shut up, Nick," Kurt said, still looking at Blaine.

Nick sighed and shuffled off to bother David and Wes, who were playing Wizard's Chess on the floor since Blaine was taking up most of the compartment's sitting space. Jeff was sitting across from Kurt and Blaine with Thad, and was trying his best to get the brunette to let him hold his hand.

"Jeff, stop it. I need two hands to read. One to hold the book and one to turn the page."

Jeff wasn't easily dismissed, though. He stopped trying to grab Thad's hand and laid his head on the other boy's shoulder instead. "How's this then?"

Thad heaved a put upon sigh but didn't try to shake the blonde off. Kurt spied the tiniest of smiles on Thad's lips. The two of them still weren't officially together, but Kurt figured that eventually Thad would give in.

He was really going to miss them all. It was a weird feeling. He had never had friends to miss before. He shuddered at the thought of how much worse he would ache if Blaine had stayed behind at Hogwarts.

As soon as the train came to a stop, Finn poked his head in the compartment. "Kurt, I got your trunk and stuff for you," he said as he forced the sliding door open with his shoulder and pushed the trunk in. "Blaine's, too."

"Thank you, Finn," Kurt said even as he started shaking Blaine's shoulder to wake him. Blaine whined and wrapped his arms around Kurt's waist. "Blaine, come on, wake up. We're here. Blaine."

Nick hopped up and leaned close to Blaine's ear. "WAKE UP BLAINEY, KLAINEY'S GOTTA GO!"

Blaine's arm shot out in his sleep and he caught Nick across the face with a resounding SMACK!

"Merlin, _fuck_!" Nick howled as his hands flew up to cover his nose, which started spurting blood. Jeff cracked up.

Blaine leaned up and looked around confusedly at the chaos. "Wazzit?"

"My fucking nose, that's what!" Nick hollered even as he fought off Jeff and Thad, one of whom had his wand out to heal the wound, and the other who was trying to shove his sock up Nick's nose to 'stop the bleeding.'

Blaine turned to look at Kurt with bleary eyes. "Did you jinx him again, love?"

Kurt snorted with laughter. "No, you hit him." Kurt laughed again. "In your sleep."

Blaine looked back at Nick. "I did _that_?"

"Yes, you did!" Nick said. "You and your boyfriend are going to permanently damage my nose one day!"

"If we do," Kurt said as he stood up and pulled Blaine towards Finn, who looked a bit scared, "it will be entirely your own fault. No one asked you to scream in Blaine's ear."

"I got him to wake up, didn't I?" Nick grumbled angrily as followed them out of the compartment, the rest of the boys close behind him.

The platform was absolutely crowded. There seemed to be even more people than there had been at the beginning of the year, and Kurt felt a little bit like a sardine as he stepped into the moving mass of people.

"It's like this every year," David explained at the sour look on Kurt's face.

"No sense of order," Wes complained. "It's absolutely ridiculous."

"Are you mental?" Blaine asked. "It's amazing!" he gushed, looking very much like a kid in a candy store. "Everyone is so excited!"

"There's Mum," Finn said, standing on his tiptoes, which was really just ridiculous. He towered way over everyone else.

The excitement immediately drained from Blaine's face. "Oh, Merlin."

"Relax," Kurt said, grabbing Blaine's hand. Blaine's finger tightened around Kurt's like a vice grip.

"Come on," Finn said as he took off for his mother. For all of his bravado, Finn adored Carol. They were just as close as Kurt and Burt were.

Kurt turned to his friends. "We'll see you guys in a couple weeks."

David nodded, smiling. "Yeah, we'll miss—"

Jeff and Nick bull rushed Kurt and threw their arms around his neck.

"We'll miss you, baby gay!"

For once Kurt didn't grip about the ridiculous name. He just hugged them back as best he could with only one arm since Blaine refused to release Kurt's left hand.

"Keep an eye on him, yeah?" Nick whispered in Kurt's ear. "He hasn't had a lot of good in his life."

"I will," Kurt whispered back before pulling away. Blaine received hugs from all of them, even Thad to everyone's surprise, though Blaine didn't look shocked by it.

"Behave yourselves!" Jeff called as the group of them walked away.

Kurt snorted and turned to Blaine. "Ready?"

"I guess."

"You'll be fine."

On the way over to his parents, Kurt and Blaine waved bye to their Gryffindor friends, but no more than that. Kurt had said goodbye to them at breakfast that morning, and he had had a girls night with Rachel and Mercedes a couple nights ago during which the three of them had exchanged gifts and giggled over boys.

All thoughts about his friends flew out of his head, however, when he saw his father. He had seen Burt at the Quidditch game, of course, but the visit had been too short in Kurt's opinion and left him missing his father even more.

"Hey, kiddo," Burt grinned almost sheepishly at his son as Kurt's face lit up.

Blaine released Kurt's hand so Kurt could hug Burt hello. "Hi, dad." He squeezed his father's neck. "I missed you. Have you been eating right?" he asked, pulling away to examine Burt.

Burt rolled his eyes. "Yes, Kurt. Thanks to you the only thing Carole lets me eat is the grass outside."

"I'll bet that's a lie," Kurt snorted.

"Maybe," Burt allowed.

Kurt shook his head at his father and pulled back all the way to look at Blaine. "Dad, you remember Blaine." Then, more quietly so Blaine wouldn't hear, he said, "Be nice."

Blaine offered Burt an easy grin. "Hi, sir. Thank you so much for allowing me to stay."

Kurt could have kicked him. For all of that worrying and driving Kurt crazy, the second Blaine actually comes face to face with Burt, he's all relaxed smiles and full of cordial appreciation. It figured.

"Kurt said you would have been alone."

"Yes, I would have."

Burt shrugged. "Then that's all I need to know. No one should be alone on Christmas," he said and Kurt had to refrain from hugging his father to death for it.

Blaine suddenly looked uncharacteristically shy. "I… I'm sort of used to it."

Burt snorted and jammed his hands into his pockets. "Well, you better get unused to it. Carole will probably be up your butt all day, every day about decorating the house and all that."

"I'll be happy to help," Blaine said, smiling once more.

Carole finally extracted herself from Finn's grip and rushed over to hug Kurt and then Blaine, who managed to return the hug despite the slightly overwhelmed look on his face.

"Thank you for—" Blaine began, but Carole cut him off.

"Oh, none of that. We're happy to have you."

"Alright, Carole, don't kill him," Burt said and Carole pulled away from Blaine to glare at her husband. Burt knew enough to look properly chastised. "Let's just get the hell out of here. I can't breathe properly."

"Alright, alright."

Everyone started to follow Burt towards the exit, but Blaine helt Kurt back. "Thank you for doing this for me."

Kurt smiled wide. "You're welcome."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Whew. So there's that. I hope it's not littered with typos. I had to do a rush job on the proof reading because the sky is vomiting snow everywhere and power is cutting out all over the place. We've got like 6 inches so far. Kill me now. I live in New York, not Alaska, damn it. It's not supposed to snow in October.**

**Anyway, the surprise guests I spoke about a while ago will show up next chapter. Goody! And I'd like for Burt and Blaine to have some one on one time. And Blaine just might sneak into Kurt's room one night…**

**I hope I didn't make anyone hate Blaine for not telling Kurt about his past relationship with Chase. He's a pretty conflicted guy and he is desperately afraid of losing/hurting the people he cares about. Deciding not to tell Kurt yet doesn't mean he loves Kurt any less and I hope I was able to make that evident. If not, I'll try to do better in the future.  
><strong>

**Until next time!**

**-Cerez **


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: Even though we have now seen THREE klaine kisses, which I was quite frankly over the moon about, I still (sadly) do not own _Glee. _And I'm still poor, so no _Harry Potter_ ownership rights for me either. Translation: life just sucks all around.  
><strong>

**A/N:  
><strong>

**SO sorry for the extremely long wait. We lost power for two days, got it back, and then lost it AGAIN three days later for another EIGHT. It was pure hell. We had nothing. No water, no heat, no internet. So, I spent most of my time commuting back and forth from school for use of the internet so I could complete my assignments, and going to friend's houses to shower and all that jazz, which left very little time for writing.**

**But anyway, we have power back now (finally) and here is the much overdue chapter 13.**

******WARNING: sexual themes and situations ahead.**

* * *

><p>Blaine really didn't want to be annoying. He had met Kurt's parents once before but that had been such a quick exchange that it hadn't really counted, which of course meant that <em>this<em> was the meeting that counted — the meeting where first impressions would be formed, not just about Blaine himself, but about Blaine as Kurt's boyfriend. So, he really, _really_ didn't want to be annoying.

But…

Blaine had never been in a car before and it was nothing short of completely amazing. He had seen plenty of cars before what with all of his forbidden visits to muggle London, but he had never been inside of one. And so, the ins and outs of car travel had been left up to his imagination. Until now, of course.

And right about now Blaine was feeling uncontrollably giddy.

Everything about the experience was just so completely different from the kinds of things he was used to in the best and most exciting way — the roaring sounds when the car came to life, the buttons, the little radio thing that was built right into the car itself, the way that everything outside of the car flew by in a blur despite the fact that everyone and everything inside of it was so completely still. It was exhilarating.

He wanted to touch _everything._

In particular, though, he wanted to roll down the window. Kurt had done it before to yell at Finn for accidentally dropping his trunk and it had taken all of Blaine's self-control not to slap Kurt's hand away from the button so that he could try it out for himself.

But he had a feeling that his excitement over a button would be seen as incredibly juvenile, so he was resolved to sit absolutely still and just look out the window even if it killed him.

Burt cleared his throat and Blaine, as well as everyone else, looked up. Burt was looking at Blaine through the little mirror thing that enabled the driver to see all of the other cars behind them. "You alright, kid? You can relax, you know. You're making me feel all stiff." Burt shifted around in his seat a little to prove his point.

Blaine winced. "Sorry, Mr. Hummel. I've just never been in a car before. It's a weird feeling."

Burt's eyes grew slightly alarmed. "Like you're gonna get sick? I can pull over."

"No, no, nothing like that. I'm fine."

Carole turned in her seat to look at him with concern. "Are you sure? We can definitely stop if you need. We're not in any hurry."

Kurt's fingers intertwined with his. "Blaine?"

Blaine's throat closed up. How was he supposed to explain this without sounding completely weird?

Finn of all people came to his rescue. "It's all the buttons, isn't it?"

"Buttons?" Kurt frowned as he leaned forward to look around Blaine at Finn. "What are you talking about?"

Finn shrugged. "It's hard to be in a car for the first time and not want to press every button in sight. Just to see what they all do." Finn shrugged again and looked at Blaine. "I completely get it. The window button is really fun. You can press mine if you want."

Kurt stared at Finn with an disbelieving look on his face. "You honestly have no idea how strange some of the things that come out of your mouth sound, do you?"

Finn scowled at his brother. "It's not strange. I'm right aren't I, Blaine?"

Everyone turned their attention back to Blaine, who only just barely managed not to shrink back against the seats. He figured that he might as well just come out and say it. "They are pretty interesting, I guess," he said and grinned to dispel some of the awkwardness he was feeling. "I don't want to press anything I shouldn't though."

Burt's eyebrows rose. "Oh. Well, there's not really all that many in the back, but you can go ahead and press them if you want. Just don't open the door."

Blaine was in the middle so he pressed the buttons on Kurt's door despite Finn's earlier offer. He rolled the window down and then back up and locked and unlocked the doors. All of the effects were instantaneous, and, Blaine felt, very similar to magic. He decided muggles deserved more credit from the wizarding community. Maybe muggles couldn't make things float in midair but they were magical in their own way. After all, wizards hadn't created cars or all of the electric things Kurt owned. Muggles did. And all that stuff was pretty amazing in Blaine's opinion.

Finn described what all of the buttons and knobs in the front did and Burt let Blaine lean forward so he could adjust the heat and turn on the radio. He even got to honk the horn, though he hadn't known it was a horn at the time and nearly jumped out of his skin at the blaring noise, much to everyone's amusement.

Burt grinned in a mischievous way that reminded Blaine of Kurt. "Sorry, kid, couldn't resist."

When the car finally came to a stop and everyone got out Blaine took a moment to take it all in. The Hummel-Hudson house was both everything Blaine pictured it to be and so much more. It wasn't big, but it wasn't small either. It was average Blaine supposed, which was like a breath of fresh air in comparison to his parents' enormous estate. Kurt's house looked like something out of a fairy tale. It was made of wood, stood two stories high, and looked very cozy from the outside. Surrounding the house was what Blaine figured would be the greenest, grassiest field during the spring — it was covered in a thick blanket of snow now — which was bordered by massive cluster of forest trees.

They didn't have any neighbors that Blaine could see, but he could just make out a trail of white smoke disappearing up into the sky off in the distance so he figured there was another house not too far away.

Kurt's hand slipped into his. "How do you like it?" he asked softly.

"I love it," Blaine said honestly. "It's absolutely beautiful. One day I want to live in a house just like it."

"Hey, you two get a move on," Burt called just as Kurt opened his mouth to respond.

"We're coming, we're coming," Kurt called back and then rolled his eyes to Blaine. "Let's go before they all have a conniption." Hauling two trunks behind him Kurt started for the house.

Blaine jogged to catch up with him. "I can take mine."

Kurt looked back to smile at him. "I've got it."

He didn't know why, but for some reason seeing Kurt carry Blaine's bags for him made Blaine feel like a million pixies had taken up residence in his stomach and decided to bash themselves all over the place. "Thanks," he said, fully aware that he was blushing.

Kurt's smile turned into a smirk. "It's cute when you blush, Blaine."

Blaine grinned and gave Kurt a playful shove, arguing that Kurt was cuter by far when he was blushing, which Kurt of course denied. The two of them went back and forth with each other until they finally made it inside the house and Blaine stopped mid-argument to look around.

The inside of Kurt's house was, in Blaine's opinion, even better than the outside. It was probably because the house was built of wood, but it smelled so fresh inside that Blaine couldn't help breathing in deep through his nose.

"You can put your shoes here," Kurt said, pointing to a row of shoes lined up by the door as he unzipped his black boots that stopped just below his knee. He took them off but didn't add them to the row.

"You don't leave yours here?" Blaine asked as he toed off his loafers.

"Are you kidding, Blaine? Do you honestly think I would put these anywhere near Finn's grubby tennis shoes? Just... no. I'm going to put these in my room. It will only take a minute. You can have a look around our fabulous living room if you want," Kurt gestured to the open space before them, "or you can come with me."

Blaine thought on that for a moment. "I think I'll just wait and look around first. You can show me your room later, right?"

"Of course," Kurt smiled. "Be right back."

Bending down, Blaine picked up his shoes and placed them with everyone else's. He took a minute to study all the different pairs and decided that he really liked the idea of keeping them by the door. He added that to the growing list of things he would someday want for himself.

That done, Blaine made good on Kurt's offer and walked over to the first interesting thing he saw — a coffee table with several magazines laid haphazardly on its surface. One of them was open and Blaine leaned down a bit to look at the metal tools featured on the glossy pages. The tools were unlike any tools Blaine had ever seen before and he figured that the magazine must belong to Burt, who Blaine remembered fixed cars.

The rest of the room was much like the coffee table in the sense that there was stuff all over the place, but not in a messy way. More like a lived in way that Blaine might describe as controlled clutter. Blaine hungrily studied everything he laid his eyes on. The house was just so full, and so different from Anderson Manor, which was looked more like a museum than anything else.

Eventually Blaine found himself in front of a large display cabinet where a collection of pictures and other little knick knacks stood proud for all to see. His eyes were drawn to the moving pictures first, most of which obviously belonged to the Hudson side of the Hummel-Hudson family. Blaine figured Carole was the primary picture taker for most of them because an awkwardly grinning Finn was the sole subject in the majority of the pictures. Finn's expression was exactly the same in every shot, the only difference being how many teeth he had when the picture was taken and what he happened to be doing.

Then Blaine got to a picture where he had to do a double take because Finn looked as if he was about thirty years old. He puzzled over that for a moment before he realized that the man in the picture was probably Finn's father.

"That's Finn's Dad, Christopher," Kurt said as he came to stand behind Blaine.

Blaine leaned back into his boyfriend's warm body and hummed a little when Kurt wrapped his arms around his midsection. "Finn looks just like him."

"He does. Finn was only three when he died."

"That's sad."

"It is. He doesn't remember him much. He died in the Second Wizarding War. He was part of the Order of the Phoenix."

"He was a hero, then," Blaine decided without needing any more information.

Once he finished looking at the moving pictures, some of which included relatively recent short of the Hummel-Hudsons together as one collective unit, Blaine moved on to the still shots, most of which were of Kurt, and a few of Burt and Kurt together.

"That's about the cutest thing I've ever seen," Blaine said as he laughed and pointed to a picture of a very young Kurt in diapers. Around his neck he had a pink feathered scarf and pink high heeled shoes to match that must have belonged to his mother because his little feet only fit inside the pointed toes. On his head was a silver tiara with pink jewels.

"I think I was two there," Kurt explained and Blaine could hear the grin in his voice. "All of that stuff belonged to my mother when she was young. She was a pageant girl, I guess."

Kurt pointed to a still picture of a woman with sparkling blue eyes. She was absolutely beautiful in the softest, most natural way, and looked so much like Kurt it was alarming.

Blaine reached slowly forward with one hand to take hold of the picture and bring it close. "You look exactly like her," Blaine breathed as he brushed his fingers over the glass. Kurt's hand came up and held the other side of the frame so that they were holding it together.

"My dad always tells me that I could be the male version of her," Kurt whispered.

"You could," Blaine agreed. "Are."

"I wish she could have lived long enough to know that I'm a wizard. She loved the idea of magic. She would have loved knowing it was real."

"She would have been proud of you."

"MUM!" Finn suddenly shouted from somewhere upstairs, making Blaine start. "_MUM!"_

"What?" Carole yelled back from the kitchen.

Kurt sighed. "And here we go," he said as he took the picture from Blaine and placed it back with the others. "I would like to apologize in advance for this."

"For what?" Blaine asked.

"I don't have any clean socks!"

"What do you mean you don't have any clean socks? What have you been wearing the past four months?"

"Dirty ones! I don't know how to clean clothes!"

"Finn!" Carole yelled even louder, sounding exasperated. "The house-elves do the laundry for you! All you have to do is put whatever needs washing at the foot of your bed in the dirty laundry bag I packed for you!"

"I didn't know that!"

"Well, why didn't you ask your friends?"

"None of the other Gryffindor guys knew, either!"

There was a loud banging noise in the kitchen followed by a frustrated huff. "Then you should have asked Kurt!"

"Somebody call me?" Burt hollered from somewhere else in the house.

"Not you!" Carole hollered back. "_Kurt!_"

"_WHAT?_" Burt yelled, sounding frustrated.

"Why is Burt yelling?" Finned yelled.

Blaine couldn't help it. He cracked up.

"I'm glad you find this amusing," Kurt said dryly, his arms folded across his chest.

"It's amazing," Blaine said, still laughing. "Nothing like this would ever happen in my parent's house."

Kurt snorted. "I don't think anything like that would ever happen in anybody's house, period. I mean, Finn just basically admitted that he's been wearing unwashed clothes for four months. That's disgusting."

Blaine wrinkled his nose. "Okay, yes, that's true. But it's not what they're yelling, or even the fact that they're yelling it all. It's how they are yelling."

Kurt frowned. "Okay, you've lost me."

Blaine struggled to find a way to put what he was thinking into words. "It's… the way you're all so comfortable with each other. It's amazing. It's so obvious that you all love and care about each other, even when you're yelling to each other from opposite sides of the house. And you haven't even been a family for that long. I've been a part of my family for sixteen years and nothing like that would ever happen. We barely even talk to each other, let alone share our life's difficulties with one another. I don't think my mother has raised her voice once in her entire life. It's so quiet and controlled there that it's stifling." He bit his lip. "Did any of that make sense?"

Kurt looked at him with sad eyes. "It does. God, I… I'm so sorry, Blaine. I didn't think."

"No," Blaine said as Kurt pulled him into his arms. Blaine rested his forehead against Kurt's warm shoulder. "I don't want you to be familiar enough with that type of thing to have to think about it. I love how close you are to your family."

Kurt kissed the corner of his mouth. "I wish you had that."

"It's okay. It's enough to know that other people do. It means that maybe one day in the future I will too."

Kurt kissed him again, this time fully on the lips. "You will," he mumbled against Blaine's mouth. More than anything, Blaine wanted to believe him.

* * *

><p>Christmas had always been the late Elizabeth Hummel's favorite time of the year. She had been a natural born free spirit, always singing and smiling and laughing, but the holidays brought out something extra special in her.<p>

Until Elizabeth died, every December Kurt would spend the majority of his time with his mother decorating the house, baking thousands of cookies to send to their friends and families, and singing just about every holiday tune they could think of off the top of their heads. And when their heads became so full of Christmas lyrics and melodies that everything seemed to jumble together in utter nonsense, Elizabeth would give her son an impish little grin and run over to the record player — not the CD player — to put on something they could sing along to in order to reestablish their musical equilibrium.

After she had died, Kurt had tried his absolute best to duplicate some of the magic his mother had so effortlessly created during the Christmas season, but he just couldn't come close. He would hum Christmas songs while he baked cookies for himself and Burt, and he would go all out with Christmas decorations, but the magic was gone, which is what Kurt liked to think of as cruel irony.

Burt always said that Kurt reminded him of his dead wife. He said that every time Kurt smiled he looked just like his mom, and that Kurt was gentle and kind and calming in the special ways that Elizabeth had been. But Kurt didn't exactly agree. Out of his two parents, he looked most like Elizabeth had, yes. He really did look like the male version of her. And yes, he could be gentle and kind when it was needed of him, but he really wasn't like that naturally. He was a caring person, that was true, but wasn't a gentle and loving soul.

Really, Kurt would say that he was more like Burt. Mentality wise, he and Burt were almost exactly the same. They were driven and passionate, and were oftentimes sarcastic to a fault. They both had a dry humor that bordered on morbid, and both experienced emotions in a fierce and sometimes all-consuming way.

So, no, Kurt wasn't just like Elizabeth.

But Blaine was.

Blaine was happy and gentle and beautiful in the way that Kurt's mother had been. Each one of Blaine's smiles lit up the room and stirred something inside Kurt that he thought he had lost. Blaine somehow taught Kurt how to smile again. Blaine, who was partially damaged himself, was like a beautiful breath of fresh air. He taught Kurt how to laugh, how to have fun and not take things so seriously all of the time.

On some level, Kurt had always been conscious of the similarities that existed between his dead mother and his boyfriend, but he had never acknowledged it directly before. Probably because Kurt had never seen Blaine so carefree before. This of course meant that Kurt had spent the past three days completely spellbound over his beautiful boyfriend.

There was just something about the way Blaine had gushed so completely to Carole over how lovely and homey the Hummel-Hudson's cluttered home was that made Kurt's heart swell. And the way Blaine had jumped up to volunteer to go Christmas tree hunting with Burt and Finn earlier this morning, and how yesterday Blaine had helped Carole hang the stockings so carefully, but also excitedly, as if there was nothing else in the world he would rather be doing, and how he had teared up when Carole passed him the stocking that had BLAINE written in red and green on it.

"You're doing it again," Carole said, pulling Kurt away from the Blaine Anderson hazed part of his brain.

Kurt didn't even try to hide his blush. There was no point really, seeing as how this was about the ten thousandth time Carole had caught him with what he was sure was an extremely love sick expression on his face since Friday when they came home. It was Monday now. Christmas Eve was on Thursday.

Carole moved to sit in the chair opposite Kurt at the kitchen table. She smiled. "You really love him."

Kurt could quite stop a smile of his own. "You keep saying that."

"Can't help it. Besides, it's wonderful to see you so happy. I'm glad he came home with us."

"Me, too," Kurt grinned. "I guess I know how you feel, though. I like seeing Blaine happy."

"He does seem at home here, doesn't he?"

Kurt didn't get a chance to answer because the sound of the front door banging against the wall reached the kitchen and both Carole and Kurt turned their heads towards it. The noise was followed by a grunt from Burt. That had them both scrambling to their feet and rushing to the foyer.

"Dad!" Kurt said with alarm as he caught sight of his father trying to wrestle an obnoxiously large evergreen tree through the door. Burt had his arms wrapped around the trunk of the tree, which was pretty wide and looked heavy. Kurt heard Finn and Blaine, who were still outside, calling from the other side of the tree but their voices were muffled and he couldn't make out the words.

Kurt ran over to his father and tried to take the load from him. "Dad, let it go."

Burt grunted again and gave a tug. "I've got it," he said through gritted teeth.

"No, you don't. Let me take it."

They stared at each other for a minute, both seeing a stubbornness in the other eyes that clearly said neither was going to let go. Thankfully Kurt had Carole on his side.

"Oh, stop it, Burt. Kurt's strong, he can hold it."

"And I'm not?" Burt challenged irritably.

Carole's features tightened ever so slightly and Burt winced. Kurt didn't blame his father. While subtle, the look on Carole's face was pretty fierce and not to be trifled with.

Burt turned back to his son. "You carry the weight with your arms, not your back, you got me?"

"Yeah, Dad, I know."

Burt still hesitated. "Tell me if it's too heavy, or you might strain your back."

"Yeah, I got it, Dad. You can let go. I got it."

Finally, Burt let go. Without his help, it was a lot heavier, but nothing Kurt couldn't handle. Despite what most people thought, he certainly wasn't a weakling. His legs were much stronger than his arms, but he had a decent amount of upper body strength too.

With a lot of pulling and direction from Burt, eventually they got the tree half of the way in, and Blaine squeezed in between the massive tree and the door frame. His face was scratched up on one side from where the pine needles had been rubbing against his skin and he looked a little tired as he struggled to hold the tree, but when he saw Kurt he smiled.

"Hi, love. I didn't know you were helping."

Kurt snorted. "Could you guys have picked a bigger tree?"

Blaine grinned. "Nope. We drove about two hours before we found it. I got to sit in the front and play with the radio."

"Less talking, more working, boys," Burt instructed.

Kurt might have listened, too, if not for a truly horrific thought that suddenly occurred to him. "Dad, you didn't chop this tree down yourself, did you?"

"No," Burt said with a marked scowl. "Finn and Blaine took turns."

Clearly his father wasn't happy about not being able to help, but it made Kurt feel a little better. At least his father had been smart enough not to take on the task of chopping this monstrosity down all himself without help just to prove that he still could. Not that Burt's earlier thoughtfulness negated the fact that he had tried to carry the tree into the house when Kurt and Carole were both there to help, but Kurt figured he would spare his father the lecture since Carole was doing a fine job of giving one herself.

Getting the second half of the tree inside was easier than the first half had been, given that it was narrower at the top, which was apparently why Burt had given that part to Finn in the first place. All of this information came out in the middle of Burt trying to placate Carole, who wasn't pleased with Burt's show of heavy lifting.

Burt had been trying to argue that he had been (quote, unquote) _forced_ to carry the trunk of the tree (which was the heaviest part) because Finn was too big to hold the bulkier parts and still fit through the door and Blaine was small enough to have the bulkiest part and still fit, which meant that Burt could _only_ be left with the trunk. His entire argument made absolutely no sense. Kurt figured Blaine would have known that, but wouldn't have wanted to argue with his boyfriend's father, and Finn was dumb enough to need to cheat off of Britney in Potions, so he probably accepted Burt's ration of nonsense without a second thought. Carole wasn't impressed, of course, and neither was Kurt, but he was a bit preoccupied, so he left Carole to deal with it.

"So what you are telling me, Burt, is that because my son is 'too big', he couldn't take the middle and he couldn't take the trunk either?"

Burt cleared his throat in a nervous fashion. "Well, when you put it that way…"

"It sounds completely ridiculous?" Carole snapped. "That's because it is. I understand about the middle because Blaine barely fit through the door holding that part, but do you honestly expect me to believe that you couldn't have switched the bottom of the tree for the top?"

"Well…"

Carole's eyes narrowed to a dangerous degree. "The second word in that sentence had better be a 'no,' Burt Hummel. And another thing! Both Kurt _and_ I were here in the house. You should have got one of us. There was no reason for you to be forcing that tree through the door in the first place."

"Carole…"

"Don't go there, Burt. Just don't. Your body is still healing and you need to take care of yourself. For our peace of mind if not your own."

It wasn't much longer before Burt relented and promised to ask for help in the future. Kurt figured that promise would last about a week before Burt started pushing his limits again. His father was nothing if not stubborn.

By the time the tree was standing, one hour and forty five minutes had passed and Kurt wasn't exactly in the best of moods. It took so long because initially the tree had been too tall to fit inside the living room so they had been forced to carry it part of the way back outside so they could saw some of it off.

It probably would have gone a lot faster if they used magic, but none of the boys were technically allowed to use magic outside of school and Carole had been too preoccupied with scolding her husband to be of much assistance so that left manual labor as their only option.

Finn collapsed onto the floor as soon as the tree was set up in its stand. "Never again."

"Only thing that's left now is the decorating," Carole announced as she surveyed their work. She ignored Finn's answering groan at the prospect of more work to take a deep breath through her nose. "It smells so fresh in here now."

"It smells like a freaking forest," Burt grunted. Then he sneezed. "Damn thing is already making me sick."

Carole rolled her eyes, recognizing Burt's dramatics for what they were. "Come on, husband, let's go get the Christmas ornaments from upstairs. I'll need some help carrying them."

Burt perked up at the chance to lift something heavier than the TV remote and eagerly followed her up the stairs. Kurt knew better though. Carole was just as careful with Burt's health as Kurt was, but she also understood his need to not be treated like an invalid all of the time. She would probably make a convincing show of being unable to lift a box that was only moderately heavy yet still light enough for Burt to carry without much effort. It would make his father feel useful and needed while keeping him safe. Kurt loved Carole for that.

As soon as their parents were out of sight Kurt glared down at his still groaning step-brother and nudged Finn hard in the side with his toe. "Oh, stop whining. You didn't have the heaviest part of the tree."

Finn glared right back at him. "You were nice and warm in the house the whole time. I had to stand freezing my bum off in the cold."

"Exactly. Do you think the heat felt nice while straining to hold onto that monstrosity? I was _sweating_, so my shirt got doubly ruined." Kurt gestured angrily to his once pristine white shirt, which was now streaked with mud and tree trunk residue. No magic was going to get theses stains out. Not without disintegrating the material.

"I'm bleeding," Blaine announced cheerfully as he pointed to the angry scratches on his right cheek. "So I win."

Kurt rolled his eyes and grabbed Blaine's hand to tug him towards the kitchen where Kurt had left his wand.

"Where are we going?" Blaine asked, though he allowed Kurt to lead him from the living room without protest.

"To heal your cuts," Kurt said as soon as they were in the kitchen. He scooped his wand off the kitchen table and positioned Blaine's head so that the abused cheek was in Kurt's direct line of vision.

Blaine caught his wrist and turned to look at him. "Shouldn't you ask Carole to do that? We're not supposed to use magic outside of school."

"It's alright. Carole explained to me once that the Trace isn't exactly perfect. It only detects when magic has been performed in the presence of someone who is underage and not necessarily whether it was the underage wizard who performed it. So technically since Carole is in the house, any magic we do will be attributed to her and not us. She said that she doesn't mind if I do some small magic every now and then so long as I never let Finn know."

"Because he would go overboard if he knew?" Blaine guessed.

"Probably." Kurt reached up to reposition Blaine's head. "You know, only you would announce that you're bleeding with a smile on your face."

Blaine grinned and turned his head back to face Kurt. "Of course. But only because it means I win."

"Win what exactly?" Kurt asked as he turned Blaine's head back to where he had it before.

Blaine turned his head back again and gave Kurt a sly little smirk that made him shiver. Blaine didn't look at him like that often, but whenever he did it sent Kurt's pulse into hysterics.

Blaine's hands came to rest on Kurt's hips. His thumbs traced small, distracting circles against Kurt's clothed skin. He wondered what skin on skin contact would feel like. Amazing no doubt.

"I'm sure we can think of a prize for me that would be enjoyable for the both of us," Blaine said as he tugged Kurt a bit closer. "What do you think?"

Kurt could only nod dumbly. His heart was beating erratically in his chest. He was pretty sure that they were about to indulge in one of their intense kissing sessions, which didn't happen very often to Kurt's utter dismay. Sometimes he wished that Blaine would speed up the process of their physical relationship. Mostly, though, Kurt wished that he had the courage to suggest speeding it up himself. The problem was that Kurt really didn't know how to bring it up. He got embarrassed just thinking about it.

Still, something would have to be done about it eventually. The amount of time he spent in the shower with his hand wrapped around his cock was getting to be ridiculous. Not to mention he always felt pretty ashamed of himself for it afterward, and not just because it was taking away from the time he used to spend soaping and oiling his skin. Blaine was his boyfriend, obviously, but Kurt didn't think that gave him the right to constantly picture Blaine in various states of undress. Or maybe it did. He didn't know. What he did know was that he felt like he was invading Blaine's privacy by imagining that it was Blaine's hand wrapped around his cock instead of his own.

Maybe once it actually was Blaine's hand, Kurt wouldn't feel so bad anymore for having imagined it. Hell, maybe if they finally got to that stage, Kurt wouldn't have to masturbate anymore period. He certainly hadn't felt the need to do so before Blaine came along and disrupted Kurt's once relatively tame sexual urges. Like all boys his age, he would be plagued by the occasional wet dream, but even those hadn't happened all that often. And he had only been bothered enough to masturbate a few times in his teenage life before Blaine came along and messed his entire shower routine up. And with all the kissing they were doing lately, it had gotten way worse.

But he didn't really need to bring all of that up right now. Right now Blaine was very slowly pushing his hands up Kurt's chest until he had his arms wrapped around his neck and Kurt parted his lips just in time to accept Blaine's tongue into his mouth.

Kurt loved the sounds Blaine made when they were kissing. The deep moans and sighs were so much different from the much higher pitched ones that escaped his own lips. The only problem was that the smallest things turned him on now and it was getting more and more difficult to keep that comfortable three inches of space between their bodies. The urge to press his hips to Blaine's to see if Blaine was just as hard as Kurt was felt overwhelming. He wondered how Blaine would react. Would he press back?

"Hey, Kurt."

His father's voice was like a dousing of icy water and Kurt and Blaine jumped away from each other just as Burt rounded the corner that led to the kitchen. They might as well have kept kissing though because as soon as Burt saw them he came to an abrupt stop. If Blaine's messed up hair and their swollen lips weren't telling enough, Kurt figured the absolutely guilty expressions on both their faces were.

Burt cleared his throat and looked uncomfortable. "Uh…"

Kurt snatched up his wand from where he had tossed earlier it to sink his hands into Blaine's hair. "Blaine got cut. I was going to heal him." They all winced at how high-pitched and breathless his voice sounded.

"Er, right," Burt said.

"What's that, Dad?" Kurt blurted after an uncomfortable silence.

Burt looked down at the box in his hands as if he had forgotten about it. "It's, uh, your mother's record player and her Christmas records."

Kurt instantly forgot all about the awkwardness of their current situation. "Why did you… When did you get it fixed?"

A guilty expression came over Burt's face. He dropped his eyes down to the box and shrugged. "A few years ago, I guess. I was going to give it to you as a present. Either for your birthday or Christmas, or… well. But that never felt right. So… I figured I'd just… give it to you now. Maybe you can play it. If you want." Burt peeked up at him. "I'm sorry I broke it."

The first Christmas after Elizabeth's death, Kurt had been missing his mother infinitely more than he usually did, which was normally a whole lot, so it was pretty unbearable. So Kurt had taken his mother's record player out for the first time since she died and put on "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," which had been Elizabeth's all time favorite Christmas song, and he sang along the way they used to do together. The story ended with him screaming, Burt crying, and Elizabeth's busted up record player laying somewhere in between the two of them. It was the first and only time Kurt had ever been truly afraid of his father.

Thinking of that day and knowing that his mother's record player, fixed and playable, was only a mere five feet away sent a million thoughts and emotions ripping through him. Part of him wanted to tell Burt to take it away. But Kurt knew that would hurt his father's feelings. Obviously Burt had been building up the courage to give it to Kurt for a long time, and he _still_ looked terrified.

"Thanks, Dad," Kurt said quietly. "You can put it on the table."

Burt nodded and did as Kurt said. Then he stood around for a minute, looking unsure of himself.

Kurt couldn't take it. He walked over to his father and gave him a hug. "It's okay. I'm okay. Thank you."

Burt nodded into Kurt's shoulder and gave him one hard squeeze before he sniffed in that manly I'm-not-crying way and left the room. Blaine was next to him as soon as Burt was gone.

"Are you alright?"

"Not sure," Kurt said quietly as he reached forward to open the box. Pushing the records gently to the side, he lifted the record player out of the box and laid it on the table. The left hinge on the lid was fixed and it lifted easily and smoothly up. The side was no longer cracked or splintered, and a new needle replaced the broken one. "It was my mother's," Kurt said unnecessarily. He really didn't know what else to say.

"Your dad said he broke it."

"When I was almost nine," Kurt nodded. "I missed her a lot that year. But Christmas was so much harder than I thought it would be. I needed her." Kurt took a deep breath. He really didn't want to start crying. He had the feeling that once he started stopping would be almost impossible. "So I took this down for the first time since she died and played her favorite song and sang along like we used to do together. I think I really scared my dad. He was sleeping, I think, and he must have woken up to me singing and thought it was her. He never said, but that's what I think happened. The look on his face when he walked in the room…" Kurt never wanted to see that look on someone's face again. "It was this frantic, desperate… I don't even know how to describe it, but it was awful, because his face completely fell when he finally saw me. He looked at me like I was the most disappointing sight in the world. Then he saw the record player."

"What happened?" Blaine urged gently when Kurt didn't immediately continue.

"He didn't say anything. He just walked over to the table and threw the record player at the wall as hard as he could. Seeing him like that terrified me, and I just remember screaming, which I think terrified him, and he broke down sobbing. He just kept apologizing to my mom over and over again. I don't think he knew what he was saying." Kurt ran his hands over the polished mahogany. "I can't believe he got it fixed for me."

"Do you want to play something?"

"I…" Kurt started and then trailed off. Did he? Maybe as long as Blaine was there it would be okay. "You pick."

"Okay," Blaine nodded as he moved to look through Elizabeth's records. "I don't know any of the songs, though."

"It's alright."

"Oh, I like this one," Blaine said with a grin as held up one that had a purple snowflake on it. Turning the record over, he read the song titles on the back. "And I'm definitely going to go with "The Christmas Song." That just sounds epic. And it's sung by someone called Nat King Cole, which really just solidifies my decision."

His mother's second favorite.

Kurt tried to smile, but he knew it was a failed attempt when Blaine's face fell. "Kurt, we don't have to do this is."

"No, I want to. With you. She would have really liked you, you know."

Blaine smiled sadly. "I wish I could have met her. Someone who was so loved must have been really special."

Blaine always knew what to say somehow, and when Kurt tried for a smile this time, it felt less forced. He took the record from Blaine and used his wand to bring the electronic device to life since there were no outlets in the house.

As soon as the music started playing, Blaine hummed in contentment and closed his eyes to listen as he always did when he was listening to a song he had never heard before. And then Nat King Cole started singing and Blaine sighed. "That's really beautiful." He started swaying a little and then held his hand out. "Come here," he whispered.

Kurt walked into Blaine's arms and draped his arms around the shorter boy's neck. Blaine pressed their cheeks together. The action jogged Kurt's memory and he pulled his face away to gently touch Blaine's scrapped cheek. "I still need to heal this."

Blaine turned his head to kiss Kurt's palm. "Later. Just dance with me."

"Okay."

* * *

><p>Finn and Blaine spent the majority of Tuesday and Wednesday decorating the green monster in their living room while Kurt taught Carole how to bake twelve different types of cookies from scratch. Carole told them that they had all been invited to the annual Christmas dinner at their neighbor's house, which apparently Carole and Finn had been attending ever since Finn was in diapers, so Kurt planned on making to batches of each of the twelve different cookies that were to be divided equally between the Hummel-Hudsons and the mysterious neighbors, whose name Kurt didn't know. Carole was being kind of secretive about it, so Kurt figured it was someone he knew, though he really didn't know who that could be since he didn't know too many people in England. Puck, maybe, who Kurt knew also lived in Devon.<p>

By the time 10PM rolled around, they finally finished their final batch of ginger bread cookies and Kurt sent a very tired looking Carole off to bed after promising that he would make sure to drag his father off the couch he was undoubtedly passed out on and bring him up later.

After flicking his wand to clean up the kitchen, Kurt piled some cookies on a plate for both Finn and Blaine and poured them some milk and headed to the living room only to stop short at the sight that greeted him there.

Unsurprisingly, Burt was fast asleep on the couch with his hat only half of the way on and the TV remote balanced on his stomach. The latest Buckeyes game was on, which might have made Kurt frown in disapproval because he had worked a _lot_ of magic on the television set before he left for school to not only get the thing functioning, but to get it functioning so that it would show virtually any and every channel television had to offer. It had been a long and painstaking process, and he hadn't done all of that work to have his father sleep through every program he watched.

But Kurt was much too distracted by the sight of Blaine perched on top of Finn's shoulders to be annoyed with his father.

For a full minute all Kurt could do was stare dumbly at his brother and his boyfriend as Blaine leaned up, using Finn's hands (which were cupped under Blaine's feet) for support, and reached out with his left hand to try and get the tree topper (a blue eyed angel that had once belonged to Kurt's mother) on the tree.

"Almost there," Finn grunted as he struggled to push Blaine up a little higher. Kurt knew that despite the fact that Blaine was small, he was pretty damn solid and weighed a lot more than he looked like he ought to. "Come on, you got it, you got it."

Blaine's face was the definition of intense concentration. His eyes were fixed securely on his goal and his features were set. From the right corner of his lips, the pink tip of his tongue peaked out.

"So close! You got it! You got — _yes!_"

The two of them whooped as Blaine finally managed to get the topper on the tree. Finn slapped Blaine's thighs in excitement as Blaine fist pumped in the air.

Kurt cleared his throat loudly, finally catching their attention.

"Oh, hey, Kurt," Finn said with his usual dopey smile on his face.

"Hi, love! Did you see—?"

"Oh, I saw, alright," Kurt said dryly. "And did it not occur to either of you that a ladder or a chair might have done the job?"

"_Pfft!_" Finn scoffed. "Where's the fun in — hey, are those for us?" he asked, finally noticing the tray of cookies and milk in Kurt's hands.

Kurt sighed. "I guess so."

"Wicked," Finn grinned before looking up at Blaine. "Kurt's cooking is always amazing. But his cookies are, like, Merlin's gift to the world or something."

"Can't say that I would know."

"Well, then, you gotta try them. Come on, get down."

Before Kurt could protest, Blaine swung his right leg over Finn's head and then hopped down without any assistance from the taller boy. "That's dangerous," Kurt said, frowning.

Finn rolled his eyes. "He's fine, _Mum_."

Kurt narrowed his eyes at his brother. "You know, I really don't have to give any of these to you."

"Aw, come on, Kurt. Don't be so uptight."

"Uptight, huh?"

Blaine laid a gentle hand on Kurt's arm and kissed his cheek. "It's fine, love. Next time I'll be more careful."

Kurt sighed. "Alright, alright," he relented and offered the tray to Finn, who eagerly snatched up about six cookies. "Jesus, Finn, don't stuff them all —_ ugh!_ That's disgusting!"

Finn grinned with his mouth full of cookie and Kurt had to turn away before he puked at the offensive sight.

"'Ere, 'ry the one 'if the 'erry on it," Finn said as he held out a chocolate cookie with a red cherry in the center out to Blaine. "If's amazin'."

Kurt wrinkled his nose. "How can you even taste anything specific with all of those cookies in your mouth?"

Finn shrugged and forced yet another cookie inside his already stuffed mouth.

Blaine wasn't as bad as Finn was (he only ate one cookie at a time), but it was a wonder he even tasted them with how fast he moved from one cookie to the next. Between the two of them, they ate about thirty cookies and drank about eight cups of milk, and probably would have eaten more if Kurt hadn't cut them off.

As the two of them were finishing up the last of their cookies, Kurt put his father in bed and came back down to find Finn and Blaine spread out on the floor on their backs with their hands on their stomachs.

"That was amazing," Finn commented and Blaine nodded.

Kurt dropped onto the couch. He had been baking all day and he was actually pretty tired, which was strange for him despite how late it was because it was Wednesday. Which reminded him…

"Blaine, Carole said that you can build a fire tonight and that you can use as much wood as you want. We just have to stay in the living room."

"Okay," Blaine said from his spot on the floor. "I'll get up and do it in a minute."

Finn propped himself up on his elbow. "Are you two doing your all night thing tonight?"

Kurt nodded without taking his arm away from his eyes. "Every Wednesday."

"Can I… I mean would you mind if I maybe hung out with you guys?"

Actually, Kurt did kind of mind. He had come to see Wednesday nights as a special time reserved just for him and Blaine, and he had a feeling that Blaine felt the same way despite the bad memories Wednesday nights gave him. Still, as he caught Blaine's eye, he knew that neither of them could be heartless enough to say no to Finn. After all, he was probably lonely without all of his friends and they really couldn't blame him for wanting to spend time with them.

"Of course," Blaine said.

"Really?" Finn asked, looking so excited that Kurt knew they had done the right thing in letting him stay.

"Sure," Kurt said.

"I can teach you how to start a fire, if you want," Blaine offered.

"Okay," Finn agreed. "That could be cool."

* * *

><p>Kurt woke up feeling completely disoriented. His heart was pounding hard against his chest and he felt much too warm. A restless urgency that he didn't understand tingled over his skin and made him feel tense. He felt like he was on the cusp of something amazing that he desperately wanted, but didn't know how to obtain, and it was slowly but surely slipping away from him.<p>

_Get it back!_

On their own accord, his hips gave a desperate jerk forward and he hissed when the throbbing hardness between his legs dragged pleasurably against a firm softness. "Oh, God," he groaned deep. That was it. The amazing thing. He wanted more. He rolled his hips forward again. So good.

This time, though, someone groaned back and he immediately recognized the voice. Blaine. God, he wanted to hear Blaine make that sound again. He wanted to _see_ Blaine when he made that noise.

Kurt forced his eyes open. Everything looked bleary at first before it all swam into focus. Kurt was lying on his side and his right leg was tossed over Blaine, who was lying on his back and looking at Kurt with dark, intense, completely desperate and pleading eyes.

It was a look that somehow managed to be completely sexy and predatory yet still innocent and uncertain, and before Kurt knew it he was rolling his hips forward again and shuddering at the delicious friction it created against his cock.

And then the reality of his situation caught up with him.

He had fallen asleep when he was supposed to be pulling an all-nighter with Blaine. Finn was passed out on his stomach not five feet away from them, and Kurt had been rutting against Blaine's right leg for who knew how long in his sleep.

Kurt began to notice other things. Like the fact that Blaine was definitely hard too, but that his upper body was angled away from Kurt's as if he had been trying to get away without waking Kurt up in the process. His left arm was extended away from his body with his hand gripping tightly at one of the legs of the coffee table. It was pretty obvious that he had been using its weight to pull himself away from Kurt. But the absolute worst thing about the entire situation was Blaine's other hand, which was clamped around the waistband of his pajama pants so tightly that his knuckles were white, making it abundantly clear that he had been struggling to keep his pants from being pulled off, and sure enough, Kurt's own hand was fisted in the material and dangerously close to the bulge between Blaine's legs.

Suddenly the look on Blaine's face didn't look sexy to Kurt at all anymore. It looked embarrassed and uncomfortable. Kurt tore his hand away from Blaine's pants as if the material burned him.

He felt sick to his stomach.

Because despite all of it, despite Blaine's obvious distaste and how completely mortified Kurt felt, Kurt was _still_ hard and wanted nothing more than to rock against Blaine until he came in his pants. His hips even jerked forward again. What the hell was wrong with him? He felt his nose burn with shame and the beginnings of tears.

What if he had ruined everything?

God, they hadn't even _talked_ about this sort of thing yet. Kurt didn't know how Blaine felt about sex. He didn't know whether he wanted it, whether it scared him, or made him nervous, or if he had fantasized about it the way Kurt did. He didn't even know if sex with Kurt was something Blaine wanted to experience in the first place.

He had to get away. "God, I'm so—"

"Shut up," Blaine said in a husky voice that was almost feral and made Kurt want to moan out loud despite the fact that was about thirty seconds away from bursting into tears.

Then suddenly Blaine's hand was at the back of Kurt's neck and he was pulling Kurt roughly against him so that their mouths crashed sloppily together in a kiss that was all teeth and tongue and unlike any other kiss they had previously shared. Blaine groaned into the kiss and with the hand that wasn't tangled in Kurt's hair, gripped the back of Kurt's knee and tugged so that Kurt's erection was once again flush against Blaine's thigh. Kurt gasped and everything disappeared. Mindlessly, he rutted against Blaine once and then twice more, his mind in a hazy, confused fog of urgency and pleasure.

Blaine tore his mouth away from Kurt's. "Not there," he groaned and tugged more insistently at Kurt's leg. Finally understanding what Blaine was trying to do, Kurt knocked Blaine's hand away and tossed his leg over both of Blaine's so that he was straddling him. Pressing his open mouth to Blaine's, Kurt lowered himself down so that their erections brushed together through the thin fabric of their pajama pants. They gasped simultaneously into each other's open mouths, their eyes blown wide. Everything was out of focus. The only clear thought in Kurt's mind was _more_.

So he took it, his eyes rolling back into his skull as he surged forward again and again and again without any semblance of control. He couldn't concentrate on anything but the addicting feel of Blaine's cock sliding against his own through the thin fabric of their clothes. Nothing else mattered, really. Why should it? It felt too good and he was so close.

Blaine was moaning hotly in his ear, his hands squeezing at Kurt's ass, pulling and tugging and helping Kurt uphold a rhythm that he hoped would get them both off soon because he felt like he was coming completely undone. Nothing made sense anymore. It was all a hazy mess of pleasure and confusion so thick that not even the telltale tightening sensation in his balls alerted him to what was about to happen until he was coming harder than he ever would have thought possible, and from the way Blaine shuddered and jerked against him as a deep, stuttered moan dragged its way so very slowly passed his parted lips, Blaine was too.

Kurt rode out the euphoric waves until he felt empty and then collapsed against Blaine, who had his head turned to the side and was breathing heavily though his mouth.

Kurt's mind whirled.

What now?

Did they talk now? Say all of the things that they had neglected to say? Kurt didn't know. And he was so very tired. His entire body felt spent. _I should say something_, he thought as his eyes slid closed and fatigue forced him back to sleep.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**

**So, uh, this chapter took a COMPLETELY different turn from where I had originally planned on going with it. As a result the surprise guests (AKA 'the neighbors') will be pushed back to the next chapter, but don't quote me on that or anything since apparently I have no control over my writing anyway. Still, there was a surprise there at the end, though probably not the one you were expecting. I wasn't expecting it either. It just sort of happened and I decided not to fight it.**

**Though it wasn't the fluffy experience you might have been imagining…  
><strong>

**So, thoughts? Reactions? I'm dying to hear them.**

**-Cerez**


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: Even though we have now seen THREE klaine kisses, which I was quite frankly over the moon about, I still (sadly) do not own **_**Glee. **_**And I'm still poor, so no **_**Harry Potter**_** ownership rights for me either. Translation: life just sucks all around.**

**A/N:**

**I'd like to apologize for how long it has taken me to post this. This chapter took me forever to write partly because I'm super busy with school and partly because it was just really hard to write. There is a lot of dialogue and both the boys have a long discussion about their feelings and I didn't want it to come across as completely ridiculous or unbelievable and I hope I succeeded and you guys aren't left disappointed. **

**It's also pretty short compared to some of the other ones, but I'll explain the reason for that. For now, I hope you enjoy.**

* * *

><p><em>What have I done?<em>

That was Blaine's very first thought as the boy in his arms slumped against him and promptly fell asleep after mumbling something about talking in the morning. Blaine wasn't sure whether Kurt was even conscious of the fact that he had spoken out loud, but the words shot right through the core of Blaine's entire being and an uncomfortable hotness had settled in — a burning sensation that started deep inside the middle of his chest and slowly spread throughout his entire body until even his fingertips felt like they were on fire. His stomach constricted tighter and tighter until that too was making him feel physically sick.

_What the hell have I done?_

He was no better than Chase.

All passion, no emotion.

And Kurt…

Merlin, Kurt. What was Kurt going to say when he woke up?

Blaine didn't want to know. He had ruined Kurt's first sexual experience.

How had that happened? It wasn't supposed to have been like that. It was supposed to have been beautiful and instead it had been too soon, too unplanned, too random. At the time it had felt so right. It had been exactly what his body needed. But now… now he was pitifully aware that he had done something he couldn't undo… and that was his problem, wasn't it? He was always, _always_ doing things in the heat of the moment that he wound up regretting later. Things that he wished he could take back and do differently but couldn't.

_Chase had been right_, Blaine realized. _There's something wrong with me_. Everything he touched, he corrupted. Even with Kurt, who Blaine loved so much, he reverted back to emotionless passion, and now Kurt probably thought that was normal. But then again, maybe it was. Maybe it didn't matter whether you loved the person you were being intimate with. Maybe sex was just sweat and flesh and getting off.

Blaine's chest constricted at that thought. He had been hoping that with Kurt he would finally be able to be…

He stopped himself. It didn't matter what he had been hoping for.

This time when Blaine tried to move away from Kurt, the other boy didn't latch onto him like a vice. Kurt stayed dead asleep and Blaine stood up on shaky legs. Finn was snoring with his back turned to them, blissfully and thankfully unaware of what had happened.

Blaine took one step and then stopped and made a face at how gross it felt. When Kurt woke up, the mess would be even less comfortable for him than it was for Blaine now, but Blaine didn't really know what to do about that. He certainly didn't want to face Kurt right now. Right now he wanted to get away.

So he did.

He walked back to the small, but comfortable room across from the kitchen that the Hummel-Hudsons had given him to stay in. He realized they probably never would have given it to him if they had known he would defile and corrupt their son. If they somehow found out about it and threw him out, where would he go? He certainly didn't know anyone in Devon.

Or maybe Kurt would be the one to ask him to leave. Chase certainly hadn't wanted anything to do with Blaine after everything had been said and done. Blaine tried to imagine Chase's indifferent 'You can leave now' on Kurt's soft lips and it made his eyes sting.

_Don't think about that now. Don't think about anything now. _

He went into the bathroom in the hall and cleaned himself off and then splashed some warm water on his face. He wasn't really expecting it to make him feel better or anything, which was fine because it didn't. It was just something to do.

That done, Blaine trudged back to the room he had been given and shuffled over to the bed that was pushed against the wall to his left. He allowed his body to drop down onto the soft mattress without any sort of finesse and then rolled until he was on his back and looking at the ceiling. He wondered what time it was. Finn had only managed to stay awake for a couple hours, and Kurt had fallen asleep not too long after. It couldn't be later than two, maybe three, and Blaine was so tired. Knowing that the only entertainment he would have for the next few hours would be listening to his own judgmental thoughts made the exhaustion that much more unbearable. The heaviness pushing his eye lids closed felt like a physical weight. Sleep would be so good. When was the last time he had actually slept on a Wednesday night? He knew it had been a long, long time ago. The dreams were always terrible on Wednesday nights, and he always woke up crying or screaming. Doing either in Kurt's home would be very bad.

He briefly entertained the idea of soundproofing the room just so he could sleep. Kurt had said using magic was okay so long as there was a wizard or witch of age nearby, but Blaine didn't know where his wand was and he felt too miserable get up and look.

So he stayed awake and replayed what had happened with Kurt in his mind, only in his fantasy Blaine whispered _I love you_ in Kurt's ear as they rocked very gently and slowly together, and Kurt whispered that he loved him back after telling Blaine how amazing he was.

He barely even noticed he was crying.

* * *

><p>"Shuddup, Finn," Kurt mumbled as he rolled onto his stomach and tried to force his body back to sleep. It was hard though, because he could see the dim light from the winter sun through his closed eye lids and Finn's horrible snores were loud enough to wake the dead. Still, he tried.<p>

But only for about thirty more seconds because Finn gave a particularly vicious snore that Kurt just knew would someday frighten his future nieces and nephews into thinking their daddy was an ogre.

With an annoyed huff, Kurt pushed his tired body up and shifted around. His lower body felt cold, sticky, and slightly wet.

Suddenly wide awake, Kurt's stomach dropped painfully when he looked around and realized Blaine wasn't there. Which meant that he had left.

Blaine had _left_.

Scrambling to his feet, Kurt stepped over a passed out Finn, taking a moment to pause so that he could grab Finn's wand off the carpet and use it to clean the mess in his pants before dropping it back to where he found it and heading towards Carole's home office, which she and Burt had cleared out so Blaine would have privacy and his own room to sleep in. The door was closed, which meant Blaine was definitely in there.

With his stomach churning and his heart pounding so that he like one giant mess of uncomfortable nerves, Kurt knocked on the door as loud as he dared at — he glanced at a nearby wall clock — seven thirteen in the morning. "Blaine?"

When there was no answer Kurt knew without a doubt something was really wrong. He had been holding onto the possibility that for whatever reason maybe Blaine was just changing or something, but if that were the case Blaine probably would have answered him.

Kurt stood there for a few minutes, unsure what he should do. He could just leave and give Blaine his space, though he wasn't sure that would be such a good idea. Blaine had a tendency to blow things out of proportion, and considering what had happened a few hours ago, Kurt would say Blaine was perfectly within his right to do exactly that. His boyfriend was probably feeling just as embarrassed and uncomfortable as Kurt was now.

They shouldn't have taken it that far. Or at the very least they should have talked about it afterwards. Kurt felt like kicking himself. He should have just sat up and forced himself to stay awake no matter how unbelievably comfortable Blaine had felt.

_Well, it's too late now, Hummel._

God, this was all his fault. Blaine hadn't been the one to initiate it, Kurt had. And yeah, he had been asleep, and therefore logically he knew it wasn't _really_ his fault, but he still felt guilty.

He took a deep breath. He _couldn't _leave. Not yet. Not without making sure that Blaine was okay.

"Blaine… Blaine, please can I come in?" There was no lock on the door, and if Blaine didn't answer after a few minutes, Kurt would just open it and try his luck that way. Still, he didn't want to do that unless it was absolutely necessary. "We need to talk about this. Just… please let me in?"

At the answering silence he decided upon a different tactic. "I'm coming in, okay? If you don't want me to just say no and I'll leave you alone for a little while." Though Kurt had no intention of just up and leaving, he still waited for a few minutes to give Blaine some time and when nothing was said, he gripped the doorknob and slowly pushed the door open.

He wasn't quite sure what he expected to find, but he was relieved to see Blaine sitting on the bed with his legs folded into a pretzel shape and his hands in his lap. His eyes weren't red, but the skin underneath them was slightly swollen and Kurt felt another stab of guilt. Still, it wasn't as bad as it could have been. At least Blaine wasn't sobbing or anything like that… well, he wasn't anymore at least, but Kurt tried not to think about that too much.

Not really knowing what to say, or how to address the situation, Kurt stopped to stand awkwardly in front of Blaine, who was keeping his eyes trained on the hands he had folded in his lap, and said the first thing that came to mind. "I know you're probably mad at me right now, but…" But… what?

Kurt didn't have to figure it out though because Blaine's head snapped up and he looked at Kurt with wide, disbelieving eyes. "Mad at you?" he asked, shaking his head in obvious bewilderment. The puffiness from crying under his eyes was much more obvious up close. "Why would I be mad at you?"

Kurt winced. "Well, you left, so…" he trailed off with a shrug.

The confusion on Blaine's face took a turn towards desperation. "You mean… you would have wanted me there? When you woke up?"

Kurt frowned, bewildered himself now. "Of course I would have. Why would you have thought otherwise?" He had fallen asleep practically right on top of him, after all.

"Because I ruined our first time together," Blaine said quietly, dropping his eyes back down in his lap.

Kurt tried and failed to make sense of what he was hearing. He wracked his brain for something that Blaine had done that would have made him think that way so Kurt could move on to reassuring him that it wasn't true, but there was nothing. Of course, it didn't help that Kurt felt completely scatterbrained. His mind was reeling with what was probably aftershock and fatigue, and he shook his head in the hope that it might kick start the eloquent and alert parts of his brain.

"Why would you think that? I was the one who started it." Kurt's face grew hot at the words he knew he was about to say. He had to force them out. "I was trying to claw your pants off in my sleep."

"Yeah, but like you said, you were sleeping," Blaine said miserably. "And you tried to get away once you realized what was happening, but I basically pulled you on top of me, and everything was so rushed." Kurt could see the tears gathering in Blaine's eyes, but before he could say something, Blaine continued on in a rush that had Kurt wondering if the shorter boy even realized that Kurt was there listening. "And I didn't want it to be like that. I wanted it to be special between us, and it just…" Blaine trailed off, not finishing his sentence, but he didn't have to.

_Wasn't._

The implied word tore through Kurt, and boy did it hurt like hell. The pain of it shifted everything into perspective, though, and Kurt felt like the biggest asshole in the world. How many times in the past month had Blaine said that he didn't want things getting too intense between them? That he wanted to take things slow? Kurt realized that in his own way, Blaine had been telling Kurt how he felt about sex almost every day since they had first gotten together. Not with words, but in the way he always pulled away if things got too heated when they were making out, and how he always kept their relationship sweet and light.

And instead of paying attention to Blaine's actions, Kurt had what? Expected the boy with borderline paranoia and trust issues to just verbally open up without any sort of prompting or encouragement?

Blaine didn't even call his parents' house 'home.' He called it his 'parents' house.' Kurt didn't even know if Blaine realized how backwards that was. There were so many little things Blaine said and did that made it obvious that all his life he had been denied love and affection from the people he needed it from the most. And Kurt was now one of those people, wasn't he? Not once during their little session of dry humping had Kurt told Blaine that he loved him. Kurt didn't even remember kissing Blaine properly. All he remembered was pressing his lips sloppily against Blaine's and mauling his mouth with his tongue.

Kurt felt absolutely disgusted with himself.

But Blaine wasn't finished speaking.

"…And I didn't even tell you that I love you. And I do. I love you so much, Kurt. And I probably made you feel cheap and used and I would never want you to feel that way about yourself because you're so beautiful, Kurt. You're amazing, and just the farthest thing from cheap that I could ever dream up."

"God, Blaine, please, just stop," Kurt said as he dropped to his knees so that their positions were reversed and now Blaine was the one looking down at Kurt. Kurt grabbed Blaine's hands and nearly sobbed when Blaine didn't pull away.

How was Blaine so good? How was he so selfless after all he had been through? Kurt had been bullied harshly all his life and it had left him cynical and jaded — at least according to his own self-assessment. But Blaine wasn't cynical or jaded at all. Blaine had some issues, yes, but didn't he see that _he_ was the beautiful one?

Kurt rested his forehead against Blaine's hands, and then thought better of it and looked up. He needed Blaine to see his eyes so that hopefully he would see that Kurt was being honest. "You didn't make me feel cheap or used, but I suspect that I made you feel that way."

Blaine immediately started to shake his head. "Kurt, no—" he started, but Kurt interrupted him.

"I didn't tell you that I loved you, either. I was too worried about whether you wanted me in that way that I never really stopped to think about _how_ you wanted it to be. Or even how I wanted it to be, for that matter." Kurt took a deep breath. "Look, we're probably going to both just blame ourselves no matter what the other one says, so let's just skip that part and try to make it so this doesn't happen again."

"How?" Blaine asked, looking weary and uncertain.

Kurt did his best to smile. "Well, first, I love you, and I'm sorry I didn't say that. I'm sorry we weren't more gentle and loving with each other, and I'm sorry it wasn't special in the way that you wanted."

Blaine winced. "I didn't mean it like that."

Kurt shook his head. "No, it's okay, because you're right. It didn't happen the way it should have, and I wish that it had been more special too. Maybe…" Kurt trailed off and squirmed a bit. He was embarrassed talking about this stuff, but he tried to push through it. "Maybe next time, if you want there to be a next time, we can take it more slowly so that we're both comfortable and happy."

Blaine looked like he was in shock. "You really want there to be a next time?"

It was on the tip of Kurt's tongue to counter Blaine's question with a 'do you?' but he stopped himself. He bit his lip and forced himself to nod yes, trying his best to ignore how unbelievably hot his face felt.

"But…" Blaine shook his head as if he didn't understand. "I… I didn't freak you out or anything?"

"No, Blaine, you didn't freak me out."

Blaine's eyebrows knit closely together and for a moment he looked completely overwhelmed by his emotions. Then he gave a tiny sob and leaned forward and buried his face in Kurt's neck. "I was so scared that you were going to hate me."

"Jesus, Blaine. That would never happen. Please don't ever think like that. We're going to make mistakes with each other, and that's okay because we'll work through them together." Kurt grabbed Blaine's wrists and gently pulled them outwards to release himself from Blaine's grip. He leaned back to look in Blaine's eyes again, but didn't release his hold on the other boy. "But you can't keep running away from me every time you're worried our relationship is going in a less than perfect direction."

"I know," Blaine said, looking guilty. "I know I do that a lot. It's just… reflexive."

Kurt nodded. "It's understandable given what you've… well. It's understandable. But I would still like you to try not to run off so we can talk about things. If something is bothering you we can always talk about it. No matter what it is." Kurt hoped he was making sense and not messing this entire thing up. He wasn't talking from actual experience since he really didn't have any, but rather from what he knew about relationships in books or movies, and things like that.

"I know, I know," Blaine sighed. "I just really don't want to do anything to mess this up. You're so important to me."

Kurt leaned up and caught the edge of Blaine's mouth in a quick kiss. "You're important to me too."

Blaine's answering smile was wan at best, but Kurt would take it nonetheless. "Will you lay with me?" Blaine asked, looking hopeful.

"Of course," Kurt agreed immediately. As if he would ever say no.

They shifted around until they were both lying on the twin sized bed. It was a tight fit and Blaine was pretty much mashed up against Kurt's side, but Kurt wasn't about to complain about it.

Neither spoke for a while, and Kurt spent the time thinking about a question he had on his mind that he wasn't sure how to bring up. They had already touched on the subject, and Kurt had given his opinion, but Blaine hadn't really given his.

"Blaine…?"

"Mmm?" Blaine hummed without stopping the swirly lines he was tracing on the back of Kurt's hand.

"What we did before… would you want that to happen again?"

Blaine's hand stilled. "You mean… now?"

Kurt's eyes widened. "Oh! No, no, no. I didn't mean _now_." God, how awkward would that have been? "I meant… eventually. You know, when the time is right for both of us. Is… is that something you would even want with me?"

Blaine propped himself up on his elbow. "Of course I want to be intimate with you. Sometimes it's all I think about… which is probably why last night happened the way it did. But I… I want it to mean something."

"I want it to mean something too," Kurt whispered.

"Sometimes…" Blaine grimaced. "Sometimes I wonder if it even can mean anything, though, or if it's all just a means to a pleasurable end."

Kurt thought about that. "I think it can mean something if it's with someone you love. Not that I'm talking from experience here, but that's what I've always heard."

"But…"

"But last night was kind of all about the pleasurable end?" Kurt offered and Blaine nodded. "We're just inexperienced… and we got too caught up in how we were feeling physically."

"Inexperienced…" Blaine repeated, and Kurt frowned, puzzled by the pained, almost guilty look on Blaine's face.

"I didn't mean that in a bad way. You were… just… it felt really good, you know? Like, _really_ good." Kurt blushed.

The guilt on Blaine's face intensified.

"What is it? What's wrong?"

Blaine bit his lip. "When you say inexperienced… I… I'm not…" Blaine trailed off. The look in his eyes was sort of hard to describe. Sad, and guilty, but there was something else there too. Defeat, Kurt realized. "It's nothing."

"Blaine… obviously it's something. You can tell me. This is what I meant when I said I want us to talk about things. You can tell me anything."

Blaine's expression hardened, and Kurt knew then that Blaine had put up one of his walls. Kurt couldn't help the disappointed sigh from escaping his lips even as he reminded himself that he had to be patient with Blaine because someone who had been hurt as much as Blaine had deserved nothing less than Kurt's patience and understanding.

Still, an attempt from Blaine would have been nice.

Kurt sighed again.

"I'm wasn't complaining about your… technique or anything, if that's what you were thinking…?" Blaine didn't say anything and kept his eyes cast down. Kurt couldn't stop himself from rambling to cover up his disappointment. "I mean, obviously we both did something that the other liked since both of us… you know." Holy hell, this was awful. He wished he was better at talking about these types of things. He wished he would just shut up. "I only meant that we can learn together, if that's something you want. We can get better or whatever." Kurt groaned in embarrassment. "God, I feel like such a pervert talking about this."

"You're not a pervert," Blaine said softly, finally looking at him. "And I do want to try again. Only… I don't want to go too far yet. Maybe we could just go slowly for a while? Is that okay?"

"That's more than okay. I feel the same way."

Blaine looked almost shy. "So… we're okay then?"

"Yeah," Kurt nodded. "We're okay."

Blaine sighed in a relieved sort of way and carefully arranged himself so that his head was in the perfect spot under Kurt's chin. Kurt thought that as long as Blaine fit so magnificently against his body he could forgive Blaine for all of his trust issues.

They laid there quietly for a long while, content to be wrapped up in each other. As the sun grew brighter, Kurt started yawning and couldn't stop. Blaine encouraged him to go back to sleep, but he couldn't manage it. After a halfhearted attempt at battling the restlessness he felt, Kurt gave into defeat and at up, feeling the need to _do_ something. "Are you hungry? I'm suddenly in the mood to cook."

Blaine sat up as well. "I could eat."

Kurt knew that meant that Blaine wasn't particularly hungry right this second, but once some food was set in front of him he would be ravenous. "I'm thinking pancakes."

"Want help?" Blaine asked as he followed Kurt out of the room and into the kitchen.

"No. Your job is to sit there and look pretty."

Blaine hoped up on one of the kitchen stools and batted his eyelashes a few times. Kurt laughed softly, still feeling a bit sentimental. Blaine smiled so sweetly back at him that Kurt couldn't help kissing him. It was a slow, soft kiss — the kind that had Kurt's fingertips and toes tingling. He sighed at the feel of Blaine's thumbs brushing against his cheeks.

Blaine was the one to pull away. "Pancakes," he reminded gently.

"I've just decided that I actually hate pancakes and I'd rather spend my time kissing you."

Blaine smiled and tilted his head to reclaim Kurt's lips but only a few seconds ticked by before Blaine's stomach growled loudly.

Kurt pulled away. "And now the moment is gone."

Blaine laughed. "Hey, you were the one who mentioned food first."

"Yeah, yeah," Kurt rolled his eyes and finally set to work.

Kurt didn't believe in instant anything when it came to cooking, so he made the pancake batter from scratch. He was busy getting the butter out of the icebox to grease the pan with when from the corner of his eye he saw Blaine get up from his seat and scurry over to the mixing bowl.

"What are you doing?" Kurt whipped around, butter forgotten.

Blaine immediately froze and whipped around to face Kurt with his hands hiding behind his back. "Uh… helping?"

Kurt quirked a brow. "Helping how?"

"By… umm…" Blaine scrunched up his face in thought and looked up to the ceiling as if he would find his answer somewhere up there. "I can't tell you. It's a surprise."

Kurt folded his arms across his chest. "Well, I don't like surprises."

"That's not true. If you didn't like surprises then you would just tell me what my Christmas gift is."

"Not that I believe for a second that you don't know what I'm talking about, but what I meant was that I don't like to be surprised."

"How about just this once?" Blaine tried, his eyes wide and innocent in that way that screamed mischief.

"No. Now, let me see what you have."

Blaine sighed and slowly brought his balled up fists forward to where Kurt could see them. Then he opened both hands so that they were palm up and flat. In each hand was about five or six chocolate chips.

"Blaine… were you seriously about to put…" Kurt did a quick count, "only thirteen chocolate chips in a batter that's going to make enough pancakes to feed five people?"

Blaine bit at his bottom lip. "Well, I didn't want you to notice…"

Blaine was so freaking cute. _Why_ was Blaine so cute?

Sighing, Kurt grabbed the chocolate chip bag off the counter where Blaine had been sitting and handed it to his boyfriend. "Just do it before I change my mind. And don't use the whole bag."

Blaine grinned and kissed Kurt's cheek before turning and pouring in half of the bag.

Finn walked in then with a sleepy look on his face, his mouth opened wide in a yawn as he scratched lightly at the center of his chest with his knuckles. His face instantly brightened as soon as he saw the mixing bowl. "Ooo! Pancakes!"

"Chocolate chip ones," Blaine said happily as he reached inside the Nestle bag and pulled out a handful to toss in his mouth.

Finn's jaw dropped. "No way! Kurt, can you make bacon too? Please?"

Kurt scowled and opened his mouth to tell Finn absolutely not when he suddenly remembered that he and Blaine had basically molested each other with Finn in the room last night. Even though Finn had stayed asleep throughout the entire affair, it was probably against some sort of brother code (stepbrothers included) to fool around with your significant other while said bother was in the same room. Kurt sighed. "Fine."

"Wicked!"

Finn bounded out of the kitchen, yelling something about being right back and Kurt dropped his head into his hands as soon as his brother was gone. "I can't believe my first sexual experience happened with Finn in the same room."

Kurt looked up in time to catch Blaine's wince. "You don't think that he…"

"Heard? No. He sleeps like the dead. And even if by some rarity he did wake up he wouldn't have been able to look either of us in the eye without flinching. Still… I can't believe we did that when he was right there." Kurt groaned again. "I'm going to have to spend the rest of forever being nice to him just to feel normal around him again."

Blaine frowned. "Would it make you feel better if we let him pour the rest of the chocolate chips in?"

Kurt actually considered that, which he figured was pretty telling of how deep his guilt ran. Finally sighed. "I'll go get him."

* * *

><p>AN:

So… kind of a weird place to end. The reason for it is that originally this chapter was almost 20 pages long and STILL not finished, so instead of making you guys wait even longer, I just cut it in half. I feel really terrible about how long it's taken me to update and just I wanted to give you all SOMETHING. However, the good news is about all this is that you can expect another update (that will be at the usual length) hopefully by Sunday.

Anyway, I hoped you liked it, even if there was a lot of angst. As always, reviews are awesome and much appreciated.

-Cerez


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: Don't own _Glee_, don't own _Harry Potter._

**If anyone is still reading this after these extremely slow updates, I am sorry for the wait (AGAIN). My laptop cord took its last breath two weeks ago and I didn't get the money to order a replacement until this past Saturday and it finally arrived Thursday night. My professors were thankfully all really understanding and gave me extensions on my essays, but having to use my iPod whenever I wanted to go online which absolutely SUCKED. Ah well.**

**Oh, and if there are any strange symbols or anything, that's because my Microsoft 2010 stopped working for some reason and I had to open all my documents on Word Processor and I guess the transfer was too much for my computer to handle because there were all sorts of problems that I had to fix. I think I got everything, but if you find anything weird let me know and I'll see what I can do about fixing it.**

**Maybe one of these days I'll actually get to update without anything exploding, imploding, or going horribly wrong…**

* * *

><p>"<em>Gosh, your lips look delicious<em>," Blaine sang a couple hours after breakfast and Kurt giggled as Blaine leaned in and kissed him quick.

"Blaine," Kurt said, trying his hardest to sound stern and serious. "I'm trying to focus and you're distracting me," he chided as he struggled to put the finishing touches on the plate of cookies he had gift wrapped in red cellophane. He still had no idea who he would be giving the cookies to, but whoever they were didn't really matter. Kurt Hummel did _not_ bring boring party dishes no matter who the host was.

Blaine wrapped his arms around Kurt from behind and nuzzled the back of his neck. _"__Never such a blizzard before_."

Kurt sighed and couldn't help from leaning back into Blaine's embrace. They had been listening to "Baby, It's Cold Outside" ever since Blaine had first listened to it and deemed it his new favorite, which meant they had heard it probably a thousand times by now. Apparently it was something of a habit for Blaine to listen to his favorite songs over and over again. Before this it had been "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas." The song had been played so many times that Kurt eventually threatened to withhold Blaine's Christmas present for an extra day if he didn't change the song.

Still, despite the hundreds of times they had listened to "Baby, It's Cold Outside," Kurt had to admit that Blaine sounded absolutely amazing singing it.

"Hey, maybe I should start calling you baby," Blaine mused between repeats.

"What? Why? I thought you liked calling me love."

"I do. But maybe I could alternate or something if you were getting sick of me calling you that."

"I'm not," Kurt was quick to reassure him. "I like it when you call me love."

Blaine grinned. "I knew it," he sing-songed.

"Yes, yes, you know everything there is to know about me, now stay still and be quiet a minute while I finish this," he said as he carefully tied the bow he had made around the plastic wrapping.

Blaine stayed quiet for all of five seconds before he started singing again in Kurt's ear.

"You know, your accent goes away you sing," he observed without taking his eyes off his work.

"So does yours," Blaine insisted. "It's strange. Hey, sing with me."

"No way. I am completely sick of this song, which I wouldn't have thought possible before today."

"Kuuurt," Blaine whined. "Sing with meeee."

Kurt laughed. "I've sung with you a million times by now."

"That's not true," the shorter boy whined some more, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet for a good measure.

"Oh my god, you are so ridiculous."

"Well, you are ignoring me, so I'm allowed."

Kurt turned and stuck his tongue out at Blaine just as Carole walked into the kitchen looking nervous. "Boys, could you both come to the living room when you're done there? I need to talk to you about dinner tonight."

"Sure, Carole," Kurt said, but she had already left the room.

Beside him, Blaine frowned. "Is she alright?"

Kurt shrugged. "I dunno. She's been really secretive about where we're going tonight. And jumpy too. Every time I mention it she changes the subject." He frowned as he finally finished. "She's actually starting to make me really nervous about it. Like she's taking us to meet a bunch of vampires or something."

Blaine's eyes grew wide and he got pale. "Really?"

"What? No! Are you nuts? I was only speculating." Satisfied with his work, Kurt grabbed Blaine's hand and started leading him towards the living room.

"But what of by some chance you're right? Vampires are really scary and I don't want to die."

"You're not going to die because we're not going to spend Christmas Eve with vampires. I wasn't being serious."

When they got to the living room they found Carole and Burt sitting on the coffee table in front of the couch, which was a weird seating choice, but Kurt wasn't about to comment on it. Carole told them to have a seat and just as Kurt sat down he realized that _this_ was where _it_ happened last night and his stomach rolled over itself a few times as the awkwardness of it all struck him. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat and hoped the unease on his face wasn't too blatantly obvious.

"Okay," Carole said, seeming to pep herself up. "I've been a bit vague about where we're going to dinner—"

"Completely secretive, more like it," Burt snorted, but he shrunk back when Carole shot him a look.

"Fine, then. Completely secretive. Anyway. The reasoning behind that is that I'm not sure how you're going to react. I thought a few times about just staying home this year, but we're been going since Finn was in diapers and well—"

Burt put a hand on Carole's knee. "Just tell them, they'll be fine."

Carole sighed. "It's the Weasley and Potter family Christmas Eve dinner."

From the corner of his eye, Kurt saw Blaine's jaw drop open as he stared at Carole in shock. Kurt, however, was waiting for Carole to tack on the missing 'just kidding' because there really was just no way that had been a true statement.

Catching Kurt's look, Carole went on to say, "I got close to Molly Weasley, Harry's mother-in-law, when Christopher was in the Order. After he died, she spent a lot of time helping me get back on my feet. She even took Finn for the weekend a few times. Anyway, we've been close ever since."

Kurt's eyebrows rose. "You're… serious?"

Carole nodded.

"Oh."

What else was there to say, really? On the one hand, it was _Harry Potter_, which was just _wow_, but on the other, _wow_ was sort of the peak of Kurt's excitement. Meeting Harry Potter wasn't something Kurt was going to freak out over. Now, if Julie Andrews was going to be at dinner that would have been a totally different story.

Blaine, however looked like he was going to self-combust. Kurt knew Harry's wife, Ginny, was Blaine's favorite Quidditch player, and now that Mrs. Potter was retired, Blaine always made sure to read her Quidditch articles in the _Daily Prophet_. And as for Harry Potter himself, Kurt could remember Blaine saying that he was a fan his a few times. In fact, Kurt remembered one time in particular that Blaine spent a good seven minutes gushing over how 'bloody gorgeous' Harry Potter was. And now they were going to meet him. Perfect.

"You know Harry Potter…" Blaine said in a spell bound voice. "A-and Ginny, too?"

Carole smiled at his star struck tone. "Yes. Would you be okay with meeting them, Blaine? I know some people can get very nervous around celebrities. But I promise that they are all very down to earth. They don't really embrace their fame. Don't get me wrong, all of them handle it very politely when people go up to them in public, but if you meet them you'll see they are all very normal and relaxed."

Blaine looked about ready to hyperventilate. "I… fine. Yeah, that's fine. Good. I'll be fine." He cleared his throat.

Burt looked like he was struggling hard not to laugh. "You sure, kid?"

Blaine blushed and nodded.

Carole looked at Kurt. "Kurt? What about you? Is this something you're comfortable with? Because if not, we can absolutely stay home."

Kurt had no problem meeting famous people. If he wanted to be famous himself one day, he would have to get used to it anyway. What he did have a problem with was spending the evening watching his boyfriend drool over a man who was a thousand times better looking than Kurt's sixteen-year-old self was. But Kurt wasn't about to admit that out loud.

"No, it's fine with me." He shrugged and plastered on a smile to make himself more convincible. "I spent forever on that plate of cookies after all."

Carole's shoulders relaxed at Kurt's answer and Burt gave her a one-armed hug. "See? You made a big deal out of nothing."

_Yeah_, Kurt thought as he looked at his boyfriend's excited face, _nothing._

* * *

><p>"Kurt, what about this?" Blaine asked as he held up yet another shirt for his boyfriend's inspection. He had changed his outfit probably about seven times by now and absolutely nothing he owned seemed good enough. When he finally found something he thought would work, as soon as he put it on he instantly hated it. He was beginning to get frustrated and slightly panicky. What the hell was he supposed to wear to meet the two people who, without even knowing it, had made Blaine's darkest days just a little bit brighter?<p>

As a child, whenever he was feeling particularly low, Blaine would sit on his bed and look at the one poster of Harry that he owned and wish that somehow he could be more like him. Ironically, it hadn't been a very glamorous or heroic poster. Nothing like the glorifying posters of Harry sold in shops today. No, Blaine had found his poster of Harry in his attic, and in it Harry looked out at you with dead eyes. Harry had been young, not much older than Blaine was now, and the words UNDESIRABE NO. 1 were written above his unsmiling countenance.

Blaine had looked at it often and relished in the sense of commonality it made him feel. After all, Blaine frequently felt like something of an undesirable himself. It was something he felt both he and Harry Potter shared.

He could remember looking up at Harry's haggard face and finding the strength to endure another day, and when he was tired of the struggle to pretend he didn't care, Blaine would look at the poster and ask why his father couldn't just love him for who he was.

That poster of Harry had gotten Blaine through some of his hardest times, and when his father found out that Blaine was gay and made him take the poster of Harry down, Ginny Potter's Chaser poster from the Holyhead Harpies replaced it. Ginny's picture was very different from her husband's. In her picture she was smirking in an impish way as she tossed the Quaffle up and down with one hand while the other kept her broom in place over her left shoulder. Her flaming red hair was windswept and her skin had been kissed brown by the sun. Blaine thought she was beautiful and looking at her confident expression always made him smile.

The Potters, without knowing it, had given Blaine strength. He had Kurt for that now, a real living, breathing person who loved him, but he was still grateful for everything the Potters had given him before he found Kurt. It was why he was currently driving his boyfriend up the wall with all of his outfit changes.

"Blaine," Kurt sighed from his place on the bed. "What you have on is fine. So was what you were wearing before that. And before that. _And_ before that." He rose a brow. "Should I keep going?"

Blaine sighed and let the shirt he was holding in his hands drop back into his trunk. "No." He was being ridiculous. He knew that. "I'm sorry, love. I know I'm acting insane. It's just I'm…"

"In love with Harry Potter?" Kurt supplied.

"What?" Blaine asked with a laugh. Okay, so Harry was gorgeous. Blaine had always known that. He wasn't in love with him, though. At least, not since he was fourteen. "I am not."

"Uh huh."

"No, seriously. I mean, I had a bit of a crush on him when I was a kid, but—"

Kurt but him off with a snort. "A bit, he says. I repeat: uh huh."

Blaine smirked at Kurt's snarky tone. "Are you jealous? Because it's very flattering if you are."

"I am _so_ not jealous. Murderous maybe, which, incidentally, would be really unfortunate seeing as how he's got that whole Boy-Who-Lived thing going on for him. Plus, and I don't think very many people would like it much if I killed their Wizarding Hero."

Blaine smiled and walked over to where Kurt was scowling on the bed. He kissed Kurt's cheek. "You do realize that makes you sound very jealous. I don't think you have anything to worry about, though. I'm pretty sure Harry Potter isn't into guys. He's married to a woman, if you remember."

"Could be a cover," Kurt mumbled and Blaine grinned at how cute it was and kissed him again.

"Well, that wouldn't matter, either since I'm kind of in love with you."

Kurt smiled a bit guiltily and leaned forward for another kiss. Blaine happily obliged and angled his head to deepen it, his tongue meeting Kurt's somewhere between their parted lips.

"Hey, guys, are you - oh, bloody hell!"

Kurt pulled away from Blaine to scowl at Finn, who had clapped his hands over his eyes and spun around so that his back was to them. "Seriously, Finn? We were only kissing, and that's your reaction? I hate to think what you would do if you saw us…"

Blaine caught Kurt's eyes as the latter trailed off and the irony of his unfinished statement hit them both, sending them into a fit of half nervous and half amused giggles.

Cautiously, Finn turned around and gave them a confused look. "Er… I don't get it," he said, making them laugh uproariously louder. Finn shook his head. "Seriously, what's funny?"

Kurt leaned on Blaine's shoulders and tried to calm himself. "Don't… worry about it. It's a… umm… it's a gay inside joke thing," he explained between fits of giggles.

"Oh." Finn nodded as if he understood. Blaine couldn't keep his eyebrows from shooting up as he wondered just how gullible Finn could be.

"Anyway, what did you want?" Kurt asked as he wiped his eyes.

"Mum wanted to know if you guys are ready to go. Dinner is at four."

Kurt abruptly paused in his self grooming to stare at his brother. "That reminds me. How was I not aware that you are on a first name basis with a surplus of famous people?"

Finn shrugged. "I dunno. It didn't really seem worth telling or anything."

Kurt looked at Finn as if he were being stupid on purpose. "How would personally knowing Harry Potter not be worth telling?"

Finn shrugged again. "It's just Harry. I've known him since I was, like, four or something."

"Just Harry," Kurt repeated, incredulous. "He's the most famous wizard in the world."

"Well, yeah… but he really is just Harry. He doesn't like all that famous rubbish. He's actually pretty shy and he's bloody awesome at Quidditch."

"Oh, we'll in _that _case." Kurt rolled his eyes and then looked at Blaine. "Are you ready yet, or do you want to change again?"

"I'm good," Blaine said, not wanting to hold anyone up.

Once they were all sitting in the car, Kurt with his plate of cookies on his lap, Carole stopped Burt from backing up the car by laying a hand on his arm. "I just realized I have no idea how to get there by car."

Burt just shrugged. "I'll find it."

Carole frowned. "How are you going to do that?"

Burt pointed towards the line of smoke trailing up in the sky from what was presumably the Weasley's fireplace. "I have to go that way. It can't be much harder then that."

"Why aren't we just Apparating like always?" Finn asked. "It takes two seconds."

"Because there's no way I can Apparate back and forth for three people, Finn. That's dangerous," Carole answered even as she shook her head at her husband. "I don't know, Burt. That doesn't sound like a good idea."

Kurt held up his iThing. "I can just look up directions."

Carole nodded. "I like that idea. Let's do that."

"No, it'll be fine," Burt said as he turned to back down the driveway. "There's only like one road around here anyway."

Twenty minutes later they were horribly lost, Kurt was furiously working with his wand to establish a wi-something-or-other connection for his rectangle thing so he could look up directions, Finn was complaining that he had to use the toilet, and Carole was grumbling at Burt, who looked like he was caught somewhere between being contrite and being annoyed.

"Honestly, Burt, we would have been there already."

Burt scowled at the road and didn't reply. "Kurt is that thing working yet or what?"

"No, Dad, it's not, so will you just be patient and stop asking me that?"

"I _am_ being patient. I'm also wondering why I bought the piece of junk if it doesn't work properly."

"Well, it's not _supposed_ to work all the way out in the middle of nowhere," Kurt snapped. "I wanted to do this at the house where we had a signal but you practically gunned it down the driveway before I got the chance."

"Watch the attitude, bud."

"Yeah, whatever," Kurt mumbled under his breath so low that Blaine was positive he was the only one who heard.

Blaine was watching the entire thing with rapt attention, fascinated with the way they all grouched and grumbled at one another. They weren't doing it in an affectionate manner, but the affection was there just the same. Again he took the time to appreciate how lucky he was to be experiencing this. If he and Kurt ever broke up, not that Blaine ever wanted to, but if they ever did, at least he would always have this to remember and aspire towards.

Finn sighed in annoyance for what was probably the twelfth time. "Next year we are definitely Apparating."

Carole turned in her seat to look at her son. "That depends on whether you all pass the licensing exams this year."

Finn snorted. "Oh, we're gonna pass. Blaine, when is your birthday?"

For a minute Blaine couldn't think. Next year? Were they actually implying that they expected him to be back? "A-April."

"Oh, good," Finn said happily. "Then you can get your license with us at Hogwarts in May and then we are _definitely_ Apparating next year because this is ridiculous. No offense, Burt."

Burt grunted in answer.

Carole caught the somewhat paniced look on Blaine's face and smiled at him. "You're welcome to spend Christmas with us next year as well, Blaine. If you would like, of course. I have a feeling you and Kurt will be together for a long while."

Blaine felt his face heat at that. Weren't parents supposed to argue that teenagers were too young to know what love is? Unsure, he looked at Kurt, who paused in his work to smile at Blaine and squeeze his arm. Blaine smiled back, feeling better. More confident. He redirected his smile at Carole. "I would love that."

"Freaking _finally_," Kurt said suddenly as he dropped his wand and started touching the little keys on the device's screen. "Dad, pull over," he said without taking his eyes off his fingers. "I don't want to lose the signal."

Using Kurt's directions, they arrived at the Burrow in less than ten minutes time. When they got out of the car, Blaine stared up at the house in front of him in awe. The Weasley home looked like one house with a bunch of smaller ones tacked onto it and Blaine instantly fell in love with its character.

When everyone started walking towards the house, though, Blaine hesitated as the enormity of what was about to happen hit him like a slap to the face.

Kurt's hand slipped in his. "You'll be fine," he said, but Blaine felt very far from fine. "You've always wanted to meet them, right?"

Blaine could only nod as he allowed Kurt to pull him forward. He held tight to Kurt's hand. "Please don't let go," he begged.

"Of course not."

Carole raised her hand to knock but the door flew open before she could. In the doorway stood a short woman who Blaine would describe as pleasantly plump in a way the suited her warm, smiling face. "Carole, dear, come in, come in," she said despite the fact that instead of stepping back to let them in, she grabbed Carole and pulled her into a tight hug.

As soon as the woman released Carole she turned and pulled Burt into a hug as well. "Hello, Burt. I'm so glad you could both make it."

"Good to see you again, Molly," Burt replied as the woman let go and turned to Finn.

"Still growing, I see," Molly smiled at Finn as he wrapped his arms around the much shorter woman.

"And you must be Kurt," she said as she let go of Finn and gave Kurt a hug as well.

Kurt accepted the woman's hug with a soft, "Oh!" and was quick to hold the cookies out so they weren't smashed between them. "It's nice to meet you," Kurt smiled politely as Molly pulled back. He presented the plate of cookies. "I brought these for tonight."

Molly beamed. "That's very sweet of you, dear," as she took the cookies into her own hands. "They look absolutely delicious."

Kurt turned to gesture at Blaine. "This is my boyfriend-"

"Blaine, right?" Molly asked. "Yes, Carole said we would be expecting one more," Molly said as he hugged Blaine as well.

Blaine hugged her back easily. She reminded him of Carole. "Thank you for allowing me to come."

Molly gave his shoulders a little pat as she pulled back. "Oh, none of that. We're happy to have you."

"Hey, Blaine," a familiar voice greeted and Blaine looked up to find George from Weasleys' Wizarding Weezys walking towards him with a grin.

Blaine eyebrows rose. "George? What are you doing here?"

George barked out a laugh as he shook Blaine's hand. "You're joking, right?"

"_You're _a Wealey? I mean a Weasly Weasly?" Blaine had always just assumed that George shared the name but not the relation. No one ever treated George as if he was any different from any other guy.

George laughed again. "As opposed to those other kinds of Weasleys, you mean?"

Blaine grinned sheepishly. "Something like that."

"You two know each other?" Molly asked.

"Yeah, Mum, from the shop. One question, though. Are we actually going to let them in and close the door? Because we could feel the draft all the way in the living room and ickle Ronikins is complaining that it's too cold for Rose and Hugo." George rolled his eyes. "I swear he's going to give those kids a complex or something. And we thought Hermione was going to be the worrier of that family."

Molly looked at the hand she had holding the door open she had never seen it before. "Oh, I'm sorry! Come in where it's warm." She quickly stepped aside so they could all come in and shut the door tightly behind them.

They made it as far as the kitchen when Hermione Weasley walked in followed closely by Harry and Ginny Potter.

"I mean, _really_," Hermione said with a frustrated look on her face, "I can't take it anymore." Then she saw everyone and smiled. "Oh, hello, Carole. This the new family, I presume?"

Carole smiled proudly. "Yes, this is my husband Burt, my stepson, Kurt and his boyfriend, Blaine."

Hermione offered each of them a smile and a nod. "It's so nice to finally meet you all. I'll get my husband." She backtracked a few paces to stick her head out of the kitchen doorway. "Ron, Carole and Finn are here with their new family. Come say hello."

"Hermione, have you gone absolutely mental? I can't leave the kids here _alone_!"

"Then bring them in here, Ronald," she said, sounding annoyed. To herself she muttered, "Honestly, Bill and Charlie are _right _there."

"No way," Ron called back. "Mum had the door open and if it's cold in here it's bound to be freezing in there."

"Fine!" She pulled back, looking frustrated and slightly embarrassed. "I'm sorry, he's…"

"Completely neurotic," Ginny said, rolling her eyes. "I still say you let me hex him until he goes back to normal."

"You will not," Molly muttered to her daughter as she walked towards Hermione. "I'll talk to him, dear."

Hermione slumped in a relieved way. "Thank you, Molly."

Ginny stepped forward to introduce herself. "I'm Ginny Potter." She reached out to shake hands with Burt. "You're a muggle, yeah? A bit of advice: don't let my dad get you alone. He's fascinated with muggles and he'll probably have you talking about the properties of dish soap or whatever for over an hour."

Harry shook Burt's hand after Ginny, and Blaine noticed that he didn't say much, only, "Hi, I'm Harry, nice to meet you," coupled with a small grin.

Blaine grew increasingly more and more nervous as the two Potters traveled down the line of Hummels and Hudsons until they finally reached Blaine.

For a minute all he could do was stare at them stupidly, and Blaine knew he was blushing to the roots of his hair. But then his brain sort of kicked into overdrive like it did whenever he was nervous and he only just barely managed to keep himself from bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet. "Hi! I'm Blaine Anderson," he introduced himself with a wide, no doubt overbearing grin. Like a five year old would have done. To Harry and Ginny Potter.

_Stupid. That was so fucking stupid!_

Ginny laughed and shook his hand. "Ginny Potter. Nice to meet you, Blaine." Blaine thought he might just die.

Harry Potter's eyes flared with recognition. "Anderson, you said?"

Something about the way he said it made Blaine's stomach clench. "Uh… yeah."

The green eyed man nodded and gave him a flat, but polite smile that faded quickly. It was the kind of smile that was meant to hide a person's underlying discomfort, and Blaine wasn't fooled. Harry's eyes were tight, as were the muscles at the corners of his mouth, and his face was pinched as if he were recalling something unpleasant.

The name Anderson meant something to Harry, and for a minute Blaine entertained the truly horrible notion that Harry might know Blaine's father from working at the Ministry, but then it hit him. Harry Potter worked at the Ministry. He was an Auror. No doubt he had heard about thirteen-year-old Blaine Anderson who had used an Unforgivable on Tyler Rosen and put him in the St. Mungo's psych ward for life. And like a total idiot, Blaine hadn't thought over the probability of that until just now.

Now Blaine was blushing for an entirely different reason. His cheeks burned with shame and embarrassment and he stepped a little closer to Kurt and grabbed the other boy's hand. Kurt looked away from his conversation with Carole and Hermione Weasley to look at Blaine and frown. "You okay?" he mouthed.

For a minute Blaine thought about lying, but they promised to be more honest about their feelings so he shook his head no, unable to talk. All he wanted to do was crawl inside Kurt's warm embrace and hide there for the rest of forever.

Kurt's frown deepened at Blaine's silent answer and he turned to Molly and Carole to say he would be right back. Then he led Blaine back the way they had come, towards the front door were there was no one around. "What's wrong?" Kurt asked the second they were alone.

Blaine moved to lean against Kurt and willed himself not to cry. He would be mortified if he had to face all those famous people with his eyes all red from crying.

Kurt wrapped his arms around him. "What's wrong?" he asked again, his tone more gentle this time, though it had been pretty gentle the first time.

"He knows," Blaine mumbled into Kurt's white afghan. Then he realized how cryptic and vague that probably sounded so he added, "Harry Potter recognized my name. He knows about Tyler."

Kurt's lips pressed against Blaine's neck in a comforting way. "Honey, I'm sorry, but I really can't hear you. You're mumbling."

Blaine turned his head so that while his mouth was no longer pressed against Kurt's sweater while still keeping his forehead against Kurt's shoulder so that he was close enough to smell him. Kurt always smelled so amazingly good. "Harry Potter has heard my name before. He's an Auror so he probably knows all about Tyler and what I did."

"Did he say something to you?"

"No," Blaine shook his head, "but he really didn't have to. It was all over his face."

Kurt's arms tightened a little around him. "Do you want me to ask if we can go? I'll say I feel sick."

Blaine thought about that. He really, really wanted to leave. He wasn't brave like Kurt was. He didn't like facing things that made him uncomfortable, and he absolutely hated that his biggest idol and role model knew the absolute worst thing about Blaine there was to know.

But…

It was Christmas. Blaine was _not_ going to pull Kurt away from his family on Christmas no matter how uncomfortable he felt.

"No. I'll be alright."

"Are you sure?" Kurt asked, pushing Blaine away so that they saw each other's eyes. "Because I can definitely do that for you."

Blaine smiled and leaned up to kiss Kurt quickly. "You make my stomach flutter, you know that?"

Kurt sighed, but Blaine could see the beginnings of a grin playing at his lips. "Blaine, I'm being serious."

"So am I. But thank you. You're the best boyfriend ever. You take care of me."

Kurt gave into his smile, which Blaine was glad for. Kurt hd a beautiful smile. "I don't know about the best boyfriend ever part, but I'll always take care of you. We'll take care of each other. So, if you want to, we can go. I don't want to stay if you're going to be uncomfortable."

"I'll be okay. You made me feel better anyway," he said honestly, but he also knew he would have to play it up a bit to get Kurt to back down. "And I want to stay. I haven't seen George in a long time. I still can't believe he's a _Weasley_."

Kurt studied him for a moment before raising a critical brow and Blaine knew he was in the clear. "Blaine, the shop is called Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes. How could you not have known?"

"Well, yeah, but I didn't know he was one of _The_ Weasleys. As in the famous ones. For all we know Weasley could be a very popular name."

"Weasley? A popular name? I really hope not."

"Why?"

Kurt snorted as they started walking back towards the party. "Because. It's pretty atrocious. I would hate to have the last name Weasley. It sounds like weasel."

"You're one to talk, hummus," Blaine snickered, remembering the first time Kurt and Professor Sylvester met.

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Well, we can't all be blessed with normal names like Anderson, now can we?"

"Well, not everyone, no, but you could have it one day if you wanted," Blaine said before he stopped to think that maybe he shouldn't.

Beside him, Kurt jerked a little bit and Blaine resisted the urge to smack a hand against his forehead. "Can we maybe pretend I didn't just allude to the possibility of us getting married one day?"

Kurt was quiet for a few moments and Blaine took a glance at him and sighed in relief to see he was smiling shyly. "No, we cannot. You said it, deal with it."

Blaine stared at Kurt as if he had never seen him correctly before and Kurt laughed and said, "I'm not saying that I think one day we will definitely get married, or even that we won't, because I've never liked it when people our age say things like that. _But,_ it's still a nice thought. That maybe we've both found the person we want to spend the rest of our lives with in each other."

"So… what I said doesn't freak you out?" Blaine needed to be sure.

"Do I look freaked out?"

Blaine studied Kurt's face. "No," he admitted.

Kurt grinned. "Well, there you go."

They were in the kitchen now, just a few steps away from the living room where Blaine could hear everyone laughing and talking. Kurt grabbed his hand to stop him.

"You' re sure you don't want to leave?" he asked, looking hard at Blaine's face.

"I'll be okay," Blaine said in lieu of answering Kurt's question.

Instead of pressing him to answer, Kurt merely smiled and straightened Blaine's bow tie. "You should wear these more often. You look good in them."

"Do I?"

"Mmhmm."

Blaine smiled and brushed his lips gently over Kurt's cheek.

A sudden sharp tug at his shirt sleeve caught Blaine's attention and he turned to find a small boy with dark auburn hair and brown eyes looking up at him with his nose scrunched up in that adorable way that only children (and Kurt) could manage.

"You kissed him," the boy said to Blaine in an insistent tone that dared either of them to deny it. "Are you the two boys that love each other?"

"Uh…" Blaine, not knowing how to answer that, looked over at Kurt only to find his boyfriend wasn't paying him any attention.

"Who told you about two boys who loved each other?" Kurt asked gently as he bent forward so that he was down to the boy's level.

"Grandma did. She said two boys were coming that loved each other and that we weren't supposed to stare or ask questions." The boy frowned in confusion. "But I never seen two boys love each other before. Are you allowed to do that?"

Kurt pressed his lips together, looking like he was trying very hard not to laugh. "Hmm, I dunno. What do you think?"

The boy considered that in silence, cocking his head to one side as he thought about it. "I don't mind," he shrugged. "So are you them or not? Cuz you kissed," he insisted. "I saw."

"Yes, we are them."

"Wicked."

Kurt smiled at the child's response. "What's your name?"

"I'm James Sirius Potter and I'm four." James brought his hand up to his face and carefully put up four fingers before holding the hand out to present to them with an impish grin that reminded Blaine of the Ginny poster he had in his room. "That's this many."

Kurt laughed, his eyes bright as he looked up at Blaine to share his amusement. Blaine felt something tug at his stomach. He hadn't known Kurt was good with kids…

"James? James!" Ginny Potter came over with an exasperated look on her face and a sweet looking, baby faced girl with fiery red hair on her hip. "Oh, Merlin, was he bothering you?" she asked Kurt and Blaine as she grabbed her son's hand. James pulled it away and stuffed it into his pocket, a very distinct frown on his lips.

"Not at all," Kurt said. He smiled sweetly at the little girl peeking up at him, her pretty face half hidden in her mother's neck. "Hi, angel face."

"Hi," she whispered back before giggling and turning to hide her face in Ginny's hair. Blaine looked at her in surprise. She didn't look old enough to be able to talk.

"How old is she?" Blaine couldn't help asking, completely forgetting to be star struck by the fact that he was talking to his favorite ex-Quidditch player.

"She turned one a few months ago," Ginny said. "In August."

"She's beautiful," Kurt told her.

Ginny opened her mouth, presumably to say thank you, but James spoke over her. "Mummy, those are the boys that love each other. I found them."

Ginny's jaw dropped open as she stared at her son in horror. "_James!_"

"Well, they are," he insisted even as he shrunk away a bit at his mother's tone.

Ginny turned a panicked gaze on them. "I'm so sorry."

"No, no, it's fine, really," Kurt tried to reassure her.

She didn't look convinced. "Are you sure?"

Again, James cut in. "'Couse it's okay. I told them they were allowed. You know, even if they're boys and stuff."

Ginny's face fell. "Please tell me he didn't."

Blaine grinned. "He did, but it was cute."

Ginny glared at her son, who ran over to duck behind Kurt. "James, we spoke about this." She sighed. "Lately he's been all about asking people if they are allowed to do this or that. He asked a complete stranger the other day if she was allowed to wear such a 'yucky looking hat.'" She rolled her eyes.

Kurt laughed. "I would have liked to see that."

Ginny snorted. "The woman wasn't very impressed. Especially not when he told her that she should take it off because it was 'giving his eye a headache.' Are you sure he didn't upset you?"

Neither of them got the chance to respond because suddenly James was screaming. "Teddy! Teddy's here, Teddy's here!" and running as fast as his legs could carry him over to a boy with blue hair.

"Hey, Kurt, isn't that your friend from school?" Blaine asked as he looked at the boy.

"Oh my god, it is."

"You know Teddy?" Ginny asked, looking between the two of them.

"Kurt does," Blaine said.

"I met him on my first day. We sat next to each other on the boats."

Ginny frowned. "How…?"

"I just transferred this year."

"Ah," Ginny nodded in understanding.

"Is he part of the family?" Blaine asked, trying and failing to remember what the boy's last name was. He was pretty positive it was _not _Weasley, though. Or a Potter for that matter.

"Yes, but not by blood. Harry is Teddy's godfather."

"Kurt?" Ted walked over to the small group. His hair and eyebrows changed from blue to pink to orange then back to blue again. "What are you doing here?"

"Carole is my step mom," Kurt explained. "And _you_ are Harry Potter's godson."

Ted grinned sheepishly. "Yeah, but he's just Harry to me."

Kurt sighed. "So I keep hearing."

"Hey, Teddy!" James yelled, apparently not okay with being out of the center of attention. "Do the thing, do the thing!" James bounced up and down excitedly. "He can make himself look like a duck!"

Ginny grabbed James' hand. "Alright, James, enough. You're making my head spin. Don't you want to go play with your cousins?"

James whipped around so fast it was a wonder he didn't fall over. "Oh, yeah! Fred! Hey, _FRED_!" He ran off. "I found them! Told you I'd find them first!"

"James Sirius! Stop yelling!" Ginny ordered as she hurried after her son.

"Is it always like this?" Kurt asked Ted once Ginny was gone.

Ted winced. "Pretty mu—oof!"

An extremely pretty girl with strawberry-blonde hair suddenly shot passed them and barreled into Ted, practically knocking him over. Kurt steadied the boy with a hand to the shoulder.

Ted's cheeks and hair turned a bright cherry red color as he looked at the smiling girl in his arms. "H-hi, Victoire."

"Hey, Teddy," she grinned. "Did you miss me?"

"I—well—I—I" Ted glanced over at Kurt and Blaine and turned even redder. Then he glanced back at Victoire, who Blaine noticed for the first time was a lot taller than Ted. "Y-yeah."

Victoire giggled and relinquished her grip around Ted's neck to ruffle his hair. "You're so cute." She leaned in to kiss him on the cheek.

Ted's hair started rapidly changing colors. "V-Victoire! You can't _do _things like that."

The girl put her hands on her hips. "And why not? You're gonna marry me one day, so what's the difference?"

Ted frowned in a way that clearly showed the two had had this conversation before. "N-no, I'm not," he said firmly. Then, "You won't want to m-marry someone like me anyway."

"Don't be silly, of course I will. You're my Teddy Bear."

"_Please _don't call me that," he pleaded.

But Victoire wasn't paying him any attention because she had finally noticed Kurt and Blaine. "Oh, hello. My name is Victoire Weasley."

Finally seeing her face to face, Blaine realized that she was much prettier than he had originally thought. Almost inhumanly so. It made it difficult to guess her age, but Blaine figured that she couldn't be older than ten or eleven since he didn't remember seeing her at Hogwarts before.

Victoire shook hands with the both of them as they introduced themselves.

"Your name is French, isn't it?" Kurt asked.

Victoire's eyes lit up. "Oh, yes. My mother is from France. It's beautiful there."

"I'm sure. I've always wanted to go."

"Do you speak the language?"

"_Oui_," Kurt said, which was about the only word Blaine recognized before Kurt and Victoire were trading sentences in the foreign language so quickly that it was a wonder either of them could tell what the other was saying.

Sometime in the middle of Kurt and Victoire's conversation the foursome moved into the living room/dinning room where Blaine was introduced to more people than he would be able to remember and a few he wouldn't be forgetting anytime soon. Like Angelina Johnson, who played Chaser for Puddlemere United and was married to George.

Everyone was extremely friendly, and like Carole and Finn had said, it was easy to forget how famous they all were. They certainly didn't act the way Blaine would expect famous people to act. He was talking to Angelina about Quidditch when Carole walked up to Kurt (who had not left Blaine's side all night) and touched his arm to get his attention.

"Kurt, sweetie, Molly wants to know what the recipe is for some of the cookies you made. I told her I didn't know and that you were the expert."

"Oh, sure," Kurt smiled before he turned to Blaine. "You want to come with me?" he asked.

"No… it's okay. I'll wait here," he said even though his stomach churned a little at the thought. Harry Potter had been giving him odd looks all night long that Blaine had no idea what to do with.

Kurt's eyes flickered to where Harry stood on the other side of the room talking to talking to Hermione and Blaine realized that Kurt had noticed the looks too. "Are you sure?"

Blaine bit his lip. Why was he always acting like such a big baby in front of Kurt? "Yeah, you go ahead."

Kurt smiled and squeezed his arm before getting up to follow Carole towards the kitchen.

For a while it wasn't so bad and he just kept on chatting with Angelina, but then a little boy with the very interesting combination of chocolate brown skin and orange colored hair came up and pulled roughly at her sleeve. "Mum, Roxie and-"

"Fred, that is _rude,_" Angelina interrupted her son. "Can't you see thatI'm talking?" She gestured to Blaine.

Fred grinned sheepishly. "Sorry, Mum. Sorry... Er, I dunno you're name."

"Blaine told it to him.

"Sorry, Blaine. Hey, James said your the boy that loves another boy. That true?"

"_Fred!"_

Fred grinned again. "Sorry, Blaine. And, excuse me, Mum, but can I tell you something?"

Angelina sighed. "Yes, Fred, what is it?"

"Roxie and Mol are fighting again."

"Perfect," Angelina muttered. "Excuse me a minute, Blaine," she said before hurrying off after her son and Blaine was left standing alone.

And, of course, the second Angelina had been called away, Harry Potter glanced at him and seeing that Blaine was alone, he interupted Hermione midsentence and walked over before Blaine had the chance to get away without being obvious about it. For a minute he entertained the idea of walking away anyway, but to be honest he was a little afraid of angering the man who had singlehandedly taken down He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named at the age of seventeen.

"Er... Hey," Harry said once he had stopped at what he must have deemed a comfortable distance away from Blaine. Too bad that Blaine's idea of a comfortable distance was back where he had been standing before. "It's Blaine, right?"

Not really trusting himself to speak, Blaine nodded.

Harry mimicked the action somewhat awkwardly. "Right. Um, I wondered if I could maybe talk with you about something." The messy haired man winced and rubbed at the back of his neck. "Something personal."

Again, Blaine couldn't really say no to Harry Potter so he forced himself to nod.

"Er... Good. Brilliant." There was a slight pause. "Maybe we could go sit or something?"

Not wanting to act like some sort of freak, Blaine stopped himself from nodding again, and forced out a quiet, "Okay."

Blaine followed Harry to one of Molly Weasley's vacant sofas and they sat down. He glanced over at the kitchen, unsure whether he wanted Kurt to come rescue him or stay away.

"I don't know if you know," Harry began, disrupting Blaine's conflicting thoughts, "but when I was in school I was pretty good friends with Seamus Finnegan."

Without thinking, Blaine turned to look confusedly at Harry. "Seamus? From The Shrieking Banshee pub?"

"Yeah. I still see him sometimes. He talks about you a lot."

"Oh," Blaine said softly, looking at his lap. "What has he said?"

"He's mentioned your... Family situation a couple times. He wanted to know if there was anything I could do with my being an Auror and all."

Blaine said nothing. He already knew that there was nothing Harry could do. Harry or anyone else. The only one who could do something was Blaine. But Harry didn't know that.

"Maybe if I had grown up differently, I would tell you that there is a good chance I can fix things and that I'm still looking into it. But I don't believe in lying to young people for their own protection, because usually that just makes them more vulnerable to their own situation. Or it has in my own experience, anyway. The truth is, legally, there is nothing I can do to help you. But then when I saw you tonight I thought maybe..."

Harry sighed. "Look, I'm no role model or anything, and I probably should just mind my own business, but you have a family who doesn't appreciate you the way they should, and I know what that's like."

"You do?" Blaine asked, shocked. Who would mistreat Harry Potter?

Harry nodded. "I was raised by my aunt and uncle, who are both muggles. They would have done anything, and I mean anything, to make me one too. To make me a _normal_ boy." Harry stared hard into Blaine's eyes.

Blaine got the hint. "So, you know about that, too, huh?"

"Yeah." Harry leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees. "I do. It doesn't make you a bad person, you know."

Blaine didn't see how that could be. Tyler was brain dead because of him.

Then Harry said, "I used the _Cruciatus _once. I was fifteen."

Blaine's mouth fell open and Harry offered him a thin smile. "We all do things in anger that we shouldn't. Sometimes we even do the wrong things for the right reasons." He shrugged. "I just wanted you to know that you're not alone. I wasn't either, though it took me a long time to figure that out. I had Ron and the Weasleys. You have Kurt and his family. Carole's brilliant, by the way. She reminds me of Molly. And Burt seems very nice, too. Anyway, my point, I guess, is that family doesn't always come from blood."

Blaine felt like a billion different words, starting with 'thank you' and ending with 'I'm sorry' were caught in his throat. There were so many things he felt he should say, but he couldn't decide on a single one. Nothing was good enough.

Kurt came out of the kitchen then and Blaine looked up in time to see his boyfriend's eyes settle on Blaine and then Harry before his lips pressed into a very thin line and fire blazed in his eyes. Kurt walked over with a ferocity in his step and Blaine knew he would have about a two second window to defuse the situation before Kurt bitched out Harry Potter in a way that would no doubt take care of the job The Dark Lord never succeeded in doing.

Blaine caught Kurt's hand as soon as the other boy was close enough for Blaine to reach it and gave it a squeeze. Kurt's eyes found his and Blaine smiled and give his head a minimal shake.

Harry cleared his throat and hastily stood up. "Er, right… I'll just… yeah," he stammered, no doubt because he had seen the feral look on Kurt's face before, though the poor man probably had no idea why it had been directed at him. Harry took two steps before he turned and looked back at Blaine, though he kept shooting Kurt nervous glances. "If you ever need to talk just Floo the Auror department at the Ministry. Tell them your name and they'll alert me no matter what I'm doing."

"Thanks," Blaine choked out. Harry nodded once and then after shooting one more glance at Kurt, hurried away.

Kurt dropped into the seat next to Blaine. "And what was that about?" he asked tightly.

Blaine reiterated everything Harry had told him to Kurt, who sat there quietly and listened until the end.

Then he said, "I don't know if I like that Harry Potter, who is your long time celebrity crush might I add, basically just gave you permission to chat with him over the Floo network whenever it tickles your fancy."

Blaine laughed loudly and kissed Kurt's cheek. This was why Kurt was perfect for him. Because he could make Blaine laugh even when he felt like total crap. "You wouldn't happen to be referring to my celebrity crush who is straight and married with children, would you?"

Kurt rolled his eyes. "I thought we'd been over this; it could be a cover. I mean seriously, Blaine. _They__'__ll alert me no matter what I__'__m doing_," Kurt said, dropping his voice down a few octaves to imitate Harry's.

"Your jealous is showing again, love."

Kurt glared at him and Blaine put up his hands in surrender. "Still flattering, though."

"I hate you, you know that? And I hate that he has to be so damn gorgeous."

"See!" Blaine exclaimed. "You think he's attractive too!"

"Yeah, but it's not me he wants to talk to no matter what he's doing."\

"And you still have nothing to worry about," Blaine promised.

"Boys." Carole called. "We're going to eat now."

"Be right there," Kurt called back. To Blaine he said, "I know I don't. And I'm glad he turned out to be so nice."

Blaine grinned. "Me too."

Dinner was an interesting affair. All together there were thirty three people there, and though the Weasley home was big, it wasn't particularly huge, so it was a tight fit. Not that the snugness made it any less enjoyable. The Weasley clan was a comedic bunch of people to watch.

Sometime during the middle of dinner James Potter took a bite of something and after a loud crack that had more than one person jumping in their seats, he turned into a huge yellow bird. George and Charlie started cracking up and Bird James was making some sort of squawking noise that Blaine really hoped was the avian equivalent of laughter. Ginny turned about as red as her hair as she watched her son flutter around in his chair before she turned dangerous eyes on her brothers, both of whom instantly stopped chortling and paled.

Charlie held up his hands in surrender. "Gin, it was only a—" he began in a rush, but that was a far as he got because Ginny whipped out her wand and little bats started to fly out of both Charlie and George's noses.

With another loud crack James turned back into his human self and wasted no time in pointing a finger between his two uncles and cracking up.

"Merlin, Potter!" George sputtered at Harry as the little green bats continued to fly out of his nose. "Control your wife."

Harry leaned back in his seat and smirked. "Because that's possible. At least I'm not the one in trouble this time."

"Ginny!" Ron exclaimed as he attempted to shield his children's eyes, both of whom were trying to pull their father's hands away so they could see. "You're traumatizing my children!"

"_Are you kidding me!__"_ Hermione yelled. "_She__'__s_ traumatizing them?" Hermione tuned to George and held her hand out expectantly. "George, give me two of those Canary Creams."

"Oh, me too!" Finn yelled excitedly.

George grinned despite the bats and dished out three Canary Creams to the askers.

Ron stared at his wife in horror. "Are you _mental_?"

At the other side of the table, Molly Weasley was scowling at her husband. "You promised me, Arthur, that we would be done raising children after Ginny."

"We are done, dear," Mr. Weasley said in a soft voice, though Blaine noticed the man looked as if he was trying very, very hard not to laugh.

"Do you see any adults here, Arthur?" Molly exclaimed as three more loud cracks sounded. "Because I _don__'__t!__"_

Kurt was staring at Ginny with his mouth hanging slight open. "Oh my god, I need to ask her about that spell. That would be absolutely perfect to use on Nick."

Blaine couldn't help but laugh.

* * *

><p><strong>Okay, so next chapter I'm gonna wrap up the holiday break and then it will be back to Hogwarts for the boys. We still need to do gift exchanges but after that I think I'll just skip over New Years, unless you guys really want to see that or something. But anyway, I have finals all this week, so I have no idea when I'll be able to update, but I'm gonna try to keep updates within a week after that since I won't be so busy.<strong>

**All of the names of the Potter and Weasley children are credited to JK Rowling, which she released after the seventh book I believe. In case anyone is wondering Roxie is George and Angelina's oldest child (Fred being their second and youngest), and Mol, (who is really named Molly, but I shortened it to avoid confusion) is one of Percy's daughters. Victoire is Bill and Fleur's oldest child. I think those were the only three I mentioned, but if you're curious about any of the others, just ask.  
><strong>

**Until next time…**

**-Cerez**


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: I don't own **_**Glee**_** or **_**Harry Potter**_**, but I did get a **_**Glee **_**poster and **_**Harry Potter **_**calendar for Christmas that are aaaaaaaaall mine. So there. **

*****Sexual content warning! It's actually pretty engrained in the chapter and I'm sorry to anyone who doesn't like that sort of thing because it will be difficult to avoid. If anyone would prefer to skip those parts but not miss anything important, feel free to PM me and I'll do my best to sum up.**

* * *

><p>Kurt woke to the sound of soft whispers in his ear and the feel of Blaine's lips against his cheek. He hummed his contentment and reached out blindly with the arm that wasn't pinned between his body and the mattress without bothering to open his eyes. A hand met his somewhere between Blaine and himself and Kurt frowned at being prevented from grabbing his boyfriend around the neck like he had planned on doing. He had wanted to pull Blaine (who was sitting next to Kurt on the edge of the mattress) down fully onto the bed so that they could lay together, and Blaine wasn't cooperating. Kurt tried to improvise by tugging at Blaine's arm instead, but Blaine merely chuckled and refused to be maneuvered.<p>

"Come on, love, please wake up."

"'M awake," Kurt mumbled, eyes still closed.

"You are not," Blaine protested, amusement thick in his voice. "Awake people generally have their eyes open."

"That's overrated," Kurt argued, but popped one eye open to look at the alarm clock on his night stand. Unfortunately, though, the clock wasn't digital and he wasn't skilled enough to read an analog clock with only one eye open so he begrudgingly opened the other one too. "Oh my god," he whined when he saw the time. "It's three in the morning, Blaine."

"No, it's three seventeen in the morning. Big difference."

Kurt groaned and turned to push his face in his pillow. "I'm going back to sleep."

"No, no, no. I have your present and I want you to open it."

Kurt turned his head to stare up at his boyfriend. "_Now?"_

Blaine nodded.

"And what's wrong with opening it in the morning?"

"It _is_ morning."

"Not according to me it's not. I define morning as being the time when the sun is up."

"Then technically morning would start when the sun comes up and end when it goes down, and that is just not at all fair to poor Mr. Afternoon, who you just killed off with that one very inconsiderate statement."

"How do you know afternoon is a he? Afternoon could easily be a she, you know," Kurt said, and then frowned at himself. What the hell was he even saying?

Blaine frowned too. "I dunno. I guess I shouldn't have assumed—"

"Oh my god, Blaine! This is why people sleep at three in the morning! Because otherwise they have stupid, pointless conversations when they could be sleeping instead!"

Blaine grinned. "I thought it was a pretty interesting topic."

Kurt snorted, now wide awake. "You would, wouldn't you?" He flipped over so that he was on his back.

"I do," Blaine said, smiling. He held out a little green box with a red bow on it that was small enough to fit in Kurt's palm.

Kurt didn't take the box until he had shifted his body around so that his head was in Blaine's lap. "So why am I opening this now instead of tomorrow with everyone else?" he asked as he gently untied the bow, which was done up so neat and perfect that it had to have been done by magic.

Blaine tangled his fingers into Kurt's hair and combed it back in an entirely relaxing way. "It's kind of personal. I wanted it to be just us."

"Oh," Kurt smiled as warmth spread to the tips of his fingers and toes. Blaine leaned down to kiss him quick. He pulled away just as Kurt got the lid off the little box. He tilted it forward to see inside and felt his breath catch. Blaine's fingers went still against Kurt's scalp.

Laying delicately on top of a little white square of a material that looked as fluffy as a cloud was a thin, cylindrical shaped crystal on a silvery white chain. The crystal was beautiful with six flat sides that narrowed down to a point at one end, but it was what was inside the crystal that deprived Kurt's lungs of oxygen. Swirling inside the crystal was something he could only describe as fire, only the color was suspended somewhere between blue and gray in their iciest forms. As he stared at it, he found himself getting lost in the swirling flames.

"I hope it's not too girly," Blaine said in a nervous tone. "But I really didn't know what else to do but make it into a necklace."

Blaine's voice broke Kurt from the crystals entrancing allure and he looked up at Blaine with wide eyes. "Is that…?" He had to begin again. "This isn't… an eternal flame… is it?"

Blaine grimaced. "Would that bother you?"

"Oh my god, it is," Kurt breathed. "Tell me you didn't actually _buy_ this, Blaine," Kurt said, though he really didn't see how else Blaine could have gotten it. The knowledge that he was holding something more expensive than ten collections of his entire wardrobe combined made breathing fairly difficult.

Slowly, Blaine shook his head no. "I… I made it."

Kurt's stomach gave a violent jolt. "You _made_ it?"

Eternal flames were hard to come by. Only the most skilled potioneers could make them, and even fewer could successfully make the crystal that could house and preserve the flames so they didn't die out, or burn everything within reach to charred bits.

Kurt knew Blaine was amazing at Potions. He was the best in their class… but Kurt hadn't known Blaine was _this_ good. With skills like that he could get a job at any potions lab he wanted.

But Blaine wouldn't do that. Because he absolutely hated Potions. Because of his father. And despite all of that, Blaine had still made this beautiful thing Kurt now held in is hand.

Kurt's eyes filled with tears.

"Kurt… Merlin, Kurt, _please_ don't cry," Blaine pleaded as he brushed Kurt's cheeks with his thumbs. It didn't do any good though because Kurt's eyes filled up with tears faster than Blaine could wipe them away. "Please say something."

"I… I don't know what to say." Kurt unsuccessfully tried to swallow the lump in his throat. "I love you. I love this. It's so beautiful, Blaine."

Blaine shook his head and leaned down so that their noses were touching. "You're beautiful." He kissed Kurt once and covered the hand Kurt held the necklace in with his own. "This is just glass and some magic. It's nothing, really. But you're _everything_."

A soft sob pushed its way passed his lips and Kurt tilted his head to press his mouth against Blaine's. The beauty of Blaine's words seemed to press insistently on his chest, pressing and pressing until they sunk past his clothing and into his skin, filling him up until he was drowning in it. Feeling overwhelmed, Kurt wrapped both arms around Blaine's neck. He pulled until Blaine fell half on top of him, their upper bodies pressed tightly together.

Blaine kissed him back, molding their lips together in that perfect way that baffled Kurt and set him on fire. Blaine's tongue was hot in his mouth, insistent, but also soft. Kurt wanted to kiss him forever.

He whimpered when Blaine pulled away and Blaine put his palms at either side of Kurt's face, soothing him. "I love you, Kurt. I love you so much. Do you know that?" Blaine asked, his eyes willing Kurt to understand. "I can't explain how much. I wouldn't know how. But… I meant what I said: you're everything to me. You make me feel special." Blaine shook his head, looking overcome with emotion. "No one has ever done that for me before."

"I'm sorry, Blaine," Kurt whispered, hating that broken down look in Blaine's eyes, even when there was so much love there too. "I'm so sorry. It's not fair. It shouldn't just be me."

Blaine leaned down, pressed their cheeks together. "It's okay. You're enough."

Kurt didn't understand how that could be. He couldn't imagine losing his father, or Carole, or even Finn, despite how crazy Finn drove him sometimes. How could Kurt, or any one person for that matter, possibly make up for all the lack of love in Blaine's life on his own? What if he messed up?

But then Kurt thought about how much more he loved life when Blaine was in the same room as he was. Everything just seemed brighter. Like Blaine was Kurt's own personal sun. A mere smile from Blaine made Kurt feel warm inside. And maybe if Blaine felt that way about Kurt, then maybe they would be okay. Maybe _Blaine_ would be okay, even without the love from his parents. Maybe he could be happy despite everything because of the other good things in his life.

Kurt fervently hoped that he could be part of those other good things in Blaine's life.

He wondered if other sixteen-year-olds felt this way about the person they were with. Were sixteen-year-olds even supposed to feel this way? This consumed by an emotion?

Blaine's fingers pulling at Kurt's hand brought Kurt back to himself.

"I want to put it on you," Blaine whispered. "If… you know, if that's okay."

Kurt started to nod, but then he stopped. The action alone wasn't enough. "Of course it's okay."

Blaine nodded as Kurt relinquished his death grip on the crystal and allowed Blaine to take it from him. When Blaine sat up, Kurt did the same, but he didn't turn around. He wanted to see Blaine's face when he put it on.

Blaine undid the clasp and smiled softly at him as he reached around Kurt's neck. The skin of Blaine's arms brushed softly against Kurt's neck, making him shiver. He kept his eyes trained on Blaine's face, though Blaine only had eyes for the swirling fire inside the crystal.

"I tried to make it the same color as your eyes," Blaine told him softly. "You have the most amazing eyes I've ever seen." He smiled as he pulled his arms away. The necklace stayed firmly in place and Blaine lifted a finger to gently press it to Kurt's chest. The heat the flames gave off, which was supposed to be able to burn through the toughest of metals, was trapped behind the crystal so that it was warm but not hot to the touch.

"I really don't think I did them justice."

"Don't," Kurt said firmly as he closed his fist around Blaine's finger. "It's beautiful."

A carefully hopeful expression passed over Blaine's face. "You really think so?"

"I do." Unable to help himself, Kurt leaned forward and caught Blaine's lips between his. Blaine hummed under the attention and the sound tugged deliciously at the back of Kurt's navel. He loved kissing Blaine. It was amazing and perfect. Especially when Blaine tilted his head at just the right angle and…

Kurt's eyes rolled back behind his closed eyelids as Blaine did exactly that and Kurt relished in the swirling motion of Blaine's tongue rolling around his own. Kurt clung to Blaine and rode the waves of pleasure as he felt himself lengthen and grow hard. He had always loved that feeling, the build up, because usually that meant…

This time it was Kurt who pulled away with a small gasp for air. Blaine pressed hot, openmouthed kisses to the skin of Kurt's neck. Aching pleasure throbbed between Kurt's legs.

"Blaine… god, _Blaine__**. **_Can we…" The ability to speak fell away as Blaine gently bit at Kurt's earlobe.

"Can we what, my love?" Blaine asked hotly in Kurt's ear. There was something husky and dark about Blaine's voice that went straight to Kurt's cock. His brain sloshed like liquid in his skull.

Kurt forced his eyes open and tried to grab on to some semblance of coherent thought so he could speak. "Can we try again?" he choked out before he wasn't able to.

Blaine moaned against the skin of Kurt's neck and pulled back. There was an all consuming lust in Blaine's eyes. "_Yes_." He pushed Kurt back down against the mattress and immediately lined their lower bodies up together. Kurt groaned at the delicious friction of Blaine's cock rubbing against his and Blaine hissed in reply. "Merlin. _Kurt._"

God, it felt amazing. Pleasure rocked Kurt's being as Blaine rocked against Kurt's body, his mouth gasping and licking and biting, and it was good, so fucking good, but it was wrong. They were slipping into the very dangerous territory of pleasure before love and Kurt was determined never to see the resulting broken look in Blaine's eyes again. The last thing he wanted was for them to get so caught up in how good they could make each other feel physically that they were both left feeling cheap and used.

But…

But finding the will to stop was so hard. The drag of Kurt's pajamas and Blaine's hardness against his own was the best feeling in the world as far as Kurt was concerned, and one that he never wanted to end.

"Blaine…" Kurt forced himself to say, but the other boy just moaned in response and repositioned his hips in a way that made Kurt see spots.

And then Blaine's lips wrapped themselves around the skin between Kurt's neck and shoulder and sucked. _Hard._

Kurt gasped and bucked his hips up as his fingers clutched Blaine's hips in a grip so tight they would probably leave bruises.

"Ohhh, god, Blaine you have to… have to stop." As soon as the world fell from Kurt's lips, his addled brain latched onto it like a vice, and before long it seemed to be the only word he was able process. "Stop, stop, stop."

Blaine froze.

* * *

><p>"Stop, stop, stop."<p>

Those three short words were like dry ice on Blaine's skin, soaking like poison through his skin and causing the blood in his veins to go still. He held his breath and let reality come crashing back. The past few moments caught up with him for what felt like the first time, leaving Blaine ashamed of himself.

Mumbling an apology and refusing to look Kurt in the eye, Blaine rolled off of the other boy and onto his back. _Stop_. The blaring echo of that damnable word pounded in his ears and made his head ache.

He felt absolutely empty. Was there _nothing_ that he could do right? He was either a mindless puppet with Chase or a mindless aggressor with Kurt.

Beside him, Kurt breathed heavily and Blaine could see the sharp rise and fall of Kurt's chest in his peripheral vision. Kurt's hand found his and it took all of Blaine's willpower not to flinch away from the touch.

"Hey," Kurt said softly even as he gasped for air. "Where did you go?"

"You said stop."

Kurt inhaled and exhaled a few more times before turning on his side and Blaine could feel the other boy's gaze on the side of his face. Blaine kept his eyes trained hard on the ceiling.

"Only because I want to do this right. Like we talked about. And…" Kurt trailed off and Blaine finally dared a peek at the other boy and found him blushing. "And with you moving against me like that I can't think straight."

"Oh."

Kurt shifted closer to him. "I want to make you feel special."

Blaine looked at Kurt's eyes. Aesthetically speaking, they were probably Kurt's most beautiful feature. The unique color of them often held him transfixed, but it was the love in them that took Blaine's breath away. He would happily drown in Kurt's eyes. "You always make me feel special."

Kurt smiled. "Let me try something?"

"Anything you want," Blaine responded on impulse, shocking him and making him realize that he trusted Kurt. He trusted Kurt with his body and with his heart. He trusted Kurt to touch him without making him feel scared or less than human. He trusted Kurt to love him in this moment absolutely.

Kurt trembled and leaned down to kiss him once. "God, Blaine the way you're looking at me…"

"I'm sorry," Blaine said without knowing what he was apologizing for, but not knowing what else to say.

"Don't be," Kurt whispered and he moved to kiss Blaine again, but this time he didn't pull away.

Blaine whimpered and pushed his fingers into Kurt's hair. There was nothing in the world softer than Kurt's hair. Blaine was only allowed to touch it on certain occasions, like when it was the end of the day and… and who cared when else because suddenly Kurt's lips and tongue were just under Blaine's ear and it felt amazing. The rippling sensations of pleasure the act evoked dueled nicely with the wonderful feel of Kurt's fingers dancing just under the hem of Blaine's nightshirt.

"Can… Can I take your shirt off?" Kurt asked in a husky tone that drove Blaine crazy.

"Anything you want," Blaine reminded only to lose himself in a moan when Kurt's hands pushed his shirt up his chest. He leaned up to allow Kurt to pull it off before he pulled Kurt's head back down for more kissing. Kurt obliged him for a few more seconds before pulling back and it wasn't until Kurt was staring at his chest with intense rapture that Blaine realized he had never been shirtless in front of another guy before. With that knowledge came self doubt and embarrassment as Kurt continued to stare at him without speaking.

Blaine felt his face heat. "Kurt… is everything okay?"

Kurt's eyes snapped up to Blaine's face. "Okay?" he asked, his voice dry and gravely. "Everything…" Kurt swallowed visibly and began again. "Everything is more than okay. I mean… just… damn, Blaine." His eyes dropped back down to Blaine's chest. "You're so gorgeous."

Blaine laughed nervously. "I don't know about that." He didn't really work out or anything, but Quidditch kept his body fit and his muscles tight, he supposed. He had a stocky build, but he wasn't overly muscled or anything.

"I do," Kurt said, his eyes dark, and Blaine's breath hitched when Kurt's little pink tongue darted out to lick his lips. "I'm going to touch you now," Kurt said almost distractedly. "If you want me to stop, just say so."

It was on the tip of Blaine's tongue to remind Kurt once again that he had full permission to do whatever he wanted, but then Kurt's fingertips were running slowly down his pecks and over his nipples and his throat closed up, keeping the words locked inside until he forgot that he wanted to speak in the first place. Kurt's lips followed his touching fingers and Blaine's back arched off the bed, eager to press closer to the wet mouth. Kurt covered one of Blaine's nipples with his mouth and swirled his tongue around the budding flesh. Blaine groaned and reached up to thread his fingers in Kurt's hair to keep him there.

For reasons he didn't understand the very strong desire to watch took hold of him and Blaine forced his eyes open and pushed himself up on his elbows so he could see. He breathed heavily through his mouth at the sight of Kurt's eyes staring seductively up at him as he licked and nipped at him, his soft hands running up and down Blaine's sides.

"You have chest hair," Kurt mumbled against Blaine's skin as his fingers caressed the trace amounts of dark hair on Blaine's chest. "I'm kind of surprised at how much I like it."

Blaine made some pathetic, noncommittal noise at the back of his throat and Kurt smiled and kissed the edge of Blaine's chin before continuing his exploration. Blaine groaned and let his head fall back. He squeezed his eyes shut and lost himself in the sensation of Kurt mapping his chest with his fingers and tongue. It felt ridiculously good, hot and pleasurable, but at the same time it was tender enough to make Blaine's eyes prick and sting with tears. He had never had someone take care of him this way before, never had someone touch him so lovingly; even as Kurt nipped at him with his teeth, it was gentle enough to make Blaine wonder if Kurt was afraid he might break under the smallest amounts of pressure.

The feel of Kurt's tongue pressed against Blaine's lower abdominal, just under his belly button and above his crotch had Blaine gasping and bucking his hips up against Kurt's chest. He was close, so close to that throbbing area where Blaine desperately wanted Kurt's tongue to be, but the other boy stopped and leaned back to smile shyly at Blaine.

"I'm not quite ready to go below the waist yet," he said. "At least not with my hands or my mouth." Even in the dark Blaine could see the red spread across Kurt's cheeks. "Is... Is that okay?"

Blaine's heart was pounding madly, making his ears pulsate and the sides of his head feel swollen with blood. The mere thought of Kurt touching him there, where no one else had bothered to touch him before had Blaine feeling lightheaded and dysfunctional. Maybe even a little bit scared too. Chase had sneered at Blaine's penis as if the sight of it disappointed him even though he knew full well that Blaine was male. Was that because Blaine was somehow lacking, or because Chase was simply an asshole? And how would Kurt react? Blaine wasn't sure and he wasn't ready to show that part of himself to Kurt and find out, even if mere minutes ago Blaine had felt positive that he could trust Kurt with his body completely. He still felt that way... sort of... It was just that everything had been so good up to this point and he didn't want to ruin it.

"That's okay," Blaine forced himself to say as he pushed his fearful thoughts to the back of his mind as best he could. He just wanted to forget all the bad stuff so he could feel good again. "I... I'm not ready either. Maybe not for a while. But this is okay."

Kurt smiled, looking relieved. "Okay. Good." He shot Blaine a mischievous smirk. "Moving right along then. I want to try something I kept thinking about. It won't break our no trespassing south of the boarder rule, of course."

Blaine nodding, getting excited again. Everything Kurt had wanted to try thus far had felt amazing.

With a half confident, half nervous look that Blaine wasn't sure how Kurt even managed to express, Kurt grabbed the hem of his nightshirt and pulled it off. Not expecting the sudden show of exposed skin, Blaine could only stare stupidly as his eyes traveled up and down the contours of Kurt's chest.

Kurt's skin was pale to the point of looking like the smoothest ivory. The only blemishes to its almost alabaster color were the few beauty marks that Blaine could see and instantly loved. As for muscle tone, Kurt was lean. His upper body was what Blaine would describe as taught, but not particularly muscular, which Blaine discovered in that moment was something he really liked and even preferred. The defining contours of Kurt's abs and pectoral muscles were there, but subtly so. Kurt's arms were the most muscular parts of his upper body and Blaine found himself staring shamelessly at Kurt's biceps. He had the very strange desire to lick the two muscles and he hoped it wasn't too weird for Kurt to one day let him try. Blaine had always had a thing for arms and Kurt's were hands down amazing, just muscular enough without it being too much. But then, everything about Kurt was just enough without being too much. He was beautiful.

Kurt laughed nervously. "I hope your staring is a good sign."

"Yeah," Blaine said, embarrassed when his voice cracked.

Kurt smiled and leaned down to kiss him, which Blaine happily obliged him in doing. They engaged in that for a little while before Kurt slowly lowered his body down over Blaine's until every inch of them was pressed together. Blaine gasped loudly, just as Kurt did.

The feel of Kurt's naked skin against his own was mind blowing. Kurt's skin, even as damp as it was, was smooth as silk. His warmth seemed to collide and mold with Blaine's in the most pleasurable way. It was addictive. Surely there was no logical reason why they couldn't be pressed together like this every moment of their lives.

They both shuddered against each other as their mouths moved sloppily together and Kurt rolled his hips, making Blaine see spots that looked more like stars. The fabric of their pajama pants was _so_ thin, and Blaine could feel everything. Merlin, he wanted to touch Kurt so bad. He wanted to devour him with his mouth and make Kurt scream, but he kept those desires locked tight inside. Instead, he grabbed both of Kurt's ass cheeks with his hands and pulled the other boy harshly against him. Kurt groaned against his neck.

"Oh, god, Blaine. I love you. I love you."

"Love you," Blaine mumbled back. "Harder, love."

"I can't," Kurt all but sobbed. "I..."

"It's okay," Blaine whispered and rolled them over. Leaning down to taste as much of Kurt's beautiful skin with his tongue as he could, Blaine thrust hard against Kurt, who spread his legs wide and moaned in response.

"God, yes. More, Blaine. Just... Just like that."

The encouragement was lovely to hear, intoxicating almost, and Kurt's gasps and moans were like music to Blaine's ears. The knowledge that _he, _Blaine, was the one making Kurt feel this way was amazing. The way they were moving together to make each other feel good was so beautiful that Blaine didn't know what to do with it. He quickly became more and more overwhelmed with the sensations and emotions coursing through him until it was just too much.

"Kurt, Kurt, I can't... I'm gonna..." He didn't get to finish before his body went stiff and sweet relief came, taking hold of him and making him quake. But it was okay, because Kurt was whispering "me, too," before his back arched and his came as well, Blaine's name falling from his lips once precious time as he rode through his high.

Conscious but completely uncaring of the mess in his pants, Blaine slumped on top of Kurt and took several gasps of air through his mouth. The air tasted sweet on his tongue and the feel of it filling his lungs was delicious after such a workout. His whole body felt heavy, his limbs more like noodles than solid masses of flesh and bones.

Kurt pressed his lips to Blaine's neck, surprising Blaine since he was all sweaty. "That was amazing."

Blaine hummed his agreement, his head too foggy for him to make an attempt to speak at the moment.

Kurt's hands pushed back Blaine's damp curls. "Blaine... Are you okay? Was it better this time?"

The self doubt in Kurt's voice cleared Blaine's head in an instant. "It was perfect in a way I never thought something like that could be." He pulled back to look at Kurt's expression which still looked skeptical. "No one has made me feel so treasured before. You're amazing, Kurt. I love you."

Kurt smiled. "You're pretty amazing, too. And I love my present. It really is beautiful."

Blaine shook his head as grabbed the crystal from its place next to Kurt's neck on the bedspread and laid on Kurt's chest, which was still slightly flushed. "I told you already, it's just magic and some glass."

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Still." Then he frowned. "Okay, hand me my wand. I am not sleeping like this again."

Blaine reached over to grab it from the night stand and Kurt cleaned them both. Blaine felt bad for all of the muggle boys who didn't have magic to assist in the post ejaculation clean up. They must find it tiresome.

Blaine yawned then and snuggled a bit against Kurt, his eyes falling closed before he forced them back open.

"I should go back to my room."

Kurt's arms tightened around Blaine's waist, hindering him from moving. "Don't you want your present?"

Blaine yawned twice more as he thought about it. He _really _did want it, but he was so damn tired. "Tomorrow. I'm falling asleep and I won't be able to give you a proper reaction if I'm not fully awake."

Kurt snorted. "You are so strange. But if you want to wait I won't stop you."

Blaine grinned and kissed Kurt's cheek. "I'll see you in the morning, okay?"

Kurt still wouldn't let go. "Will you stay? Please?"

He looked so vulnerable and Blaine hated to say no, but...

"What about your dad and Carole?"

"I'll set the alarm on my rectangle thing. Just for a couple of hours."

"One condition."

"What's that?"

"You have to cuddle with me."

Kurt rose a brow. "Oh, I have to, do I?"

"Absolutely," Blaine insisted.

Kurt heaved a put upon sigh and opened his arms in invitation. Blaine grinned and all but dove into them, resting his head in the crook of Kurt's neck and shoulder and curled up against the other boy like a cat. Kurt shook his head, but wrapped his arms around Blaine anyway. Blaine got about thirty seconds of cuddling before Kurt gave him a gentle push.

"Lean up a minute. I forgot to set the alarm."

Blaine huffed and sprang up to snatch the device off the nightstand. He pushed it into Kurt's hands. "Hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry."

"Really, Blaine? Impatient much?"

Blaine nodded as he bounced his body up and down a bit. "I was comfortable."

"There, done."

Blaine grabbed the rectangle device out of Kurt's grip and placed it quickly but carefully back where it had been. "We good now?" he asked, wanting to make sure before he committed to making himself comfortable again.

Kurt shot him a playful grin. "Hmm, I dunno, I think I have to-"

"_Kurt!"_

Kurt laughed. "Yeah, we're good."

"Yippie." Blaine settled back down, throwing his leg over both of Kurt's for a good measure and snuggled close. He just finished pulling the duvet over both of them when Kurt pressed a kiss to his forehead.

"You'll be here when I wake up, right?"

Blaine's heart swelled. "Yes."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

* * *

><p>"Kurt, wake up."<p>

Kurt whined at the command and pushed his face into Blaine's... Arm? Chest? Whatever, it didn't matter. It was comfortable and he absolutely did not want to wake up. He was so warm.

"Kurt, _please_, get up."

"Five more minutes, Blaine," he mumbled, determined to milk every second of those five minutes for what they were worth.

"_Kurt,"_ Blaine hissed, and this time the command was coupled with a bruising pinch to Kurt's side.

"Ow!" he yelped as his eyes flew open. He pushed himself up and glared angrily at his boyfriend. "Blaine! That hurt!"

But Blaine wasn't paying him any attention. He wasn't even looking in his direction.

"Now that you're awake, how's about you both get dressed and come to the kitchen?"

Kurt whipped his head towards the door at the sound of his father's voice, but all he saw was Burt's back as he walked away. His stomach dropped like a brick and he whipped back around to look at Blaine, who looked as if he might pass out.

"Oh my god, this is bad," he blurted. Blaine said nothing.

Kurt jumped out of bed and grabbed his shirt off the floor before throwing Blaine his own. "Did he say anything to you?"

Blaine pulled his shirt down over his head. "No."

"No?" Kurt repeated. "You mean he just stood there? Were you-" Kurt cut himself off as something else occurred to him. "Wait, what time is it?" He grabbed his iPod and pressed the home button to turn it on. The clock read 9:47 AM. Frowning, Kurt unlocked it and pressed the clock app. The alarm was set to ring at 6 AM, so why...?

"Shit!" Kurt said as he realized his mistake. "Shit, shit, shit. I never took it off mute. Oh my god, I'm such a fucking idiot."

"Do you think he'll ask me to leave?" Blaine asked very quietly from his place on the bed, but he might has well have screamed at the top of his lungs because the words slammed through Kurt with significant force.

"What? Jesus, Blaine, no. Of course not. He probably just wants to have a really awkward and embarrassing sex talk or something."

Blaine nodded but continued to look down at his hands folded in his lap, his body hunched over in itself in an entirely vulnerable position. He looked lost and broken and Kurt crawled back on the bed to kiss Blaine's cheek and give him a hug. "No one is going to kick you out, honey."

Blaine shook his head. "You didn't see his face. He didn't look happy."

Kurt frowned, wishing he could spare Blaine from this. "Just let me do all the talking. It will be fine," he said with more conviction than he actually felt, which was something of an accomplishment he supposed. Then again, Blaine didn't look all that reassured, so maybe not.

With a sigh, Kurt got off the bed and held his hand out to Blaine who took it wordlessly and allowed Kurt to guide him onto the cold floor.

Silently, Kurt led them both to the kitchen as he weighed the possibility of having this entire affair wrapped up with a quick 'we messed up, we're sorry, it won't happen again' but he wasn't very optimistic about it. While his father could be described as a man of few bitingly sarcastic words, his lectures and life lesson speeches tended to drag on forever and ever as if he conserved all of his conversational ability for confrontation type circumstances. In short, it was sure to be a very long and awkward conversation, or argument if Kurt was really unlucky.

The closer they got to the kitchen, the farther back Kurt had to extend his arm to keep hold of Blaine's hand, as if Blaine was trying to somehow prolong the inevitable by creating a more significant distance between them. He could fell Blaine's body tremble with fear through the connection of their arms, but Kurt didn't dare look back to try and reassure the other boy because with each step they took Kurt grew more and more frightened himself. If he tried to comfort Blaine, he was pretty sure he would do more harm than good so he stared resolutely ahead and tried not to think about how terrified Blaine was.

However, avoiding thoughts of Blaine's discomfort meant that all Kurt could think about was how much he didn't want to do this. He didn't want to have the sex talk with his father while his boyfriend was sitting in the chair next to him. He didn't want to deal with the mortification of looking in Burt eyes and knowing that his father had seen him tangled up and half naked in Blaine's arms. And speaking of Blaine (it was impossible to keep from thinking about him in some way for more than two seconds), Kurt most certainly didn't want to put Blaine through the emotional trauma of worrying whether or not he would be rejected and shunned by yet another adult for something he had done.

And as the fear and embarrassment churned Kurt's stomach, he started to become angry and annoyed, a defense mechanism that tended to land him in more trouble than he would have been in otherwise. He didn't try to fight his upset though, and when they finally reached the kitchen Kurt all but slammed his body down into the seat across from his father, his features twisted in accusatory annoyance.

Blaine sat down very quietly in the seat next to Kurt and directed his gaze to the table.

Burt took one look at Kurt's face and scowled. "Don't give me that look, Kurt."

"I'm not," Kurt instantly responded, though he knew full well that he was. He was being difficult on purpose and both of them knew it and Kurt didn't care. He was angry, after all, pissed even, and Kurt had never been one to hide his anger to spare someone's feelings. He wasn't capable of it. Like all other emotions, he wore anger on his sleeve for all to see, something he was told he had inherited from his mother.

Kurt knew he wasn't being fair or acting particularly mature. After all, it wasn't as if his father had known what he would find when he walked into Kurt's room that morning, probably to wake him up for breakfast. But the more irrational part of his brain really didn't care about fair or acting his age. He was mad at Burt for catching them, he was mad at himself for not remembering to check the damn volume on his iPod, he was mad that Blaine sat there looking like he might burst into tears and there wasn't a damn thing Kurt could do to comfort him because Burt was sitting right there, which in turn made him mad that he was too embarrassed to comfort Blaine where his father could see it, and that brought him right back to the beginning.

And so, even as he denied doing it, he kept on giving Burt the bitchiest look he could muster, which his father saw right through, of course.

"You _are_ and you know it, so knock it off. This is just as uncomfortable for me as it is for you."

Kurt shot his father a look that indicated he seriously doubted that, and Burt shot him a look right back, his features tight and frowning. Knowing this meant that Kurt was dangerously close to pushing it too far, he kept his mouth shut and dropped his eyes.

Burt sighed. "Alright. So... Do either of you boys want to tell me what that was back there?"

Kurt glanced at Blaine, who winced and said nothing. "Blaine was giving me my Christmas present and we both fell asleep. That's all."

Burt stared at him. "With your clothes off? I'm not stupid, Kurt."

"We weren't _naked,_" Kurt spat out waspishly even as his face grew uncomfortably warm. "We were both dressed from the waist down."

"Alright, fine, but that's still not something that's appropriate for you to be doing. You two shouldn't be spending the night in the same bed."

"Nothing happened," he muttered, scowling.

Burt sighed in annoyance. "Don't lie to me, kid. I was sixteen once, and, like I said, I'm not stupid."

Kurt's heart hammered in his chest. "Nothing of any significance happened, then," he amended to the kitchen table.

His father frowned at that, an unreadable expression on his face. "I really don't want to know the details. Just... Did you use protection, or whatever?"

Kurt's mouth fell open in horror. "Oh my god, Dad. Can we _not _talk about this?"

Burt shifted in his seat. To his credit, he _did_ look uncomfortable, but that didn't really make Kurt feel any better or less uncomfortable himself.

"No, we cannot not talk about it. I need to know that you're being safe." Burt's eyes shifted to Blaine, who was sitting very still and looking very small in his chair. "That you're _both _safe," Burt said in a more gentle tone than Kurt had expected to hear under their current circumstances. He redirected his gaze back to Kurt. "So... Did you?"

"No." Kurt forced himself to speak. "We… didn't need to."

"Didn't need to because it didn't get that far or didn't need to because you thought you'd be okay without it?"

Kurt shot his father a pleading look. He didn't want to talk about this.

Burt sighed. "Just humor me, kid."

"Didn't get that far," Kurt said as quickly as he could get the words out.

"Okay." Burt nodded. "Okay. But you will use it if it does?"

"Oh my god, Dad, _yes, _okay?"

"Hey," Burt said as he put up his hands, "I'm the parent here. I have to ask these questions no matter how much I'd rather just not know. And for the record, I'm not going to tell you you're not allowed to do it again, because you'll just do it anyway. I know that much from personal experience."

Personal experience. Ew. "Oh, god, I didn't need to know that," Kurt moaned.

"Yeah, well, I didn't need to see what I saw," Burt countered, but not in an angry or accusatory way. He looked at Blaine. "Blaine... You alright, kid?"

Blaine nodded but didn't look up.

Burt frowned. "Hey..." he said in that soft voice that transported Kurt back about ten years ago to a time of tears and scrapes knees and gruff but gentle comfort. Burt waited until Blaine finally, fearfully, looked up before he continued. "I'm not mad or anything. I don't know what most parents would do in this situation, but I'm not going to freak out. There's no point. Everything is done and after the fact and getting mad and yelling about it wont change anything. I just want to make sure that you and Kurt are okay and you're being safe with one another because that's what's most important at this point. Do I think maybe you two are both too young and should have waited? Yeah, I do, and maybe that's not what you want to hear, but like I said, you're both going to do what you want either way and you're not babies so it's not my call. The important thing now is that both of you understand that you need to treat each other with respect, because both of you matter and you shouldn't throw yourselves around like you don't. That's all I wanted to say."

Blaine stared at Burt with his bottom lip trembling ever so slightly, and Kurt could tell that it cost him a great deal of effort to keep himself from crying. "Thank you, Mr. Hummel," he whispered. "And... I... Kurt makes me feel like I matter. He... He's the only one who makes me feel that way."

Burt straightened his shoulders proudly. "Glad to hear it. There's nothing more important than respect in a relationship. And I think we know each other well enough for you to call me Burt."

"O-okay. Thank you, Burt," Blaine said, smiling just a little and looking less like he was going to get sick.

Kurt look at Burt like he had never properly seen the man before, feeling like a total ass. He had the most amazing father. The best father, really. Life for him could have been so much worse, so much harder, but Burt had accepted Kurt for who he was and made him feel safe. Embarrassment at how he had acted heated his face. Sitting in front of him was a man who had accepted his gay son with open arms and reassuring shoulder claps and Kurt had treated him like absolute crap in front of Blaine, whose father didn't care enough about his son to so much as wish him a Merry Christmas.

Kurt grabbed Blaine's hand under the table and squeezed it gently before looking sorrowfully at Burt.

"D-Dad... I..."

But Burt shook his head before Kurt could finish. "Its alright, bud. You were embarrassed and angry. If the tables were turned I probably would have reacted much worse. Anyway, let's see this Christmas present."

Christmas. oh, god, it was Christmas. That just made everything worse did it? "I'm sorry, Dad. I'm so sorry. It's Christmas and I-"

"Seriously, Kurt, it's fine. Merry Christmas and all that. Now what did Blaine get you?"

Kurt sighed. "Merry Christmas," he said, but dropped the subject as he slowly reached under his shirt to pull out the silver chain. He did so somewhat begrudgingly because he just couldn't shake the feeling that it was a private thing that should be kept between him and Blaine, but he had been difficult enough for one day.

"Damn," Burt muttered as his eyes zeroed in on the glowing pendent.

Kurt couldn't help but agree. The swirling grayish blue flame, while not as impressive as it was in the dark, was still extremely impressive in the light. The morning light subdued the hue of the flames so that they weren't overtly blue or grey, or any of the shades in between. Instead, the color was more subtle, like a glaze. It was a different kind of beauty from what it had been last night, but no less enchanting because of that fact.

Kurt marveled at the thought that this was what Blaine saw when he looked into Kurt's eyes.

"That looks... really expensive," Burt broke into Kurt's thoughts.

Blaine shook his head. "It didn't cost anything. I made it," he said shyly.

Burt eyebrows rose in shock. "_Made_ it?" he repeated as he turned to look back at the necklace with renewed interest. "You wizards are extraordinary people. I mean, it looks like there's fire trapped in that little thing."

Blaine blushed at the praise and knocked his knuckles together. "There kind of is. We call it an eternal flame."

Burt grunted at that knowledge. "Well, it's pretty damn impressive if you ask me. Just so long as you didn't have to sell half your organs to pay for it."

Blaine shook his head and Burt nodded to indicated he believed him.

"Okay, so one more thing and then we can go in the living room and open presents with Carole and Finn," Burt said. Then, to himself, he muttered. "She ought to have gotten him out of bed by _now_."

Kurt doubted it, but he pushed all thoughts of Finn to the back of his mind when Burt started talking again.

"So, earlier I said I won't tell you to stop, and I won't. All I ask is that it doesn't happen in the house out of respect for me and Carole. I don't think that's too much to ask, especially since you're both going back to school in a couple weeks..." Burt said all of this with a pinched, slightly distasteful look on his face that Kurt was pretty sure he was directing right back at him.

His father was pretty much giving them his permission to have sex at school, which was just... Weird. Kurt was grateful that he hadn't freaked out on them, but it was weird all the same. He supposed that from Burt's perspective it was better to give them permission and know that they were being safe than forbid it and have to wonder what was going on behind his back. But again, still weird.

Kurt forced himself to nod in agreement and Burt visibly relaxed.

"Good. I think we can drop the subject now. I'm gonna go check on Carole. You boys come find us when you're ready." Burt smiled somewhat awkwardly as he stood up and walked around the table. As he passed them on his way out, he clapped Kurt on the back and after a seconds hesitation, ruffled Blaine's hair and then he was gone.

Kurt turned to Blaine just as the other boy leaned forward to press his forehead into Kurt's chest. "I really thought he was gonna…" Blaine began, but didn't finish.

"But he didn't. Everything is okay."

Blaine pressed closer and wrapped his arms tightly around Kurt's waist. "I wish my dad was like your dad," he whispered so low that Kurt wondered if he had intended for it to be heard.

"Me too," Kurt whispered into Blaine's hair.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Another chapter completed way later than I wanted it to be. It took me forever to write more so because of writers block than because of how busy work has kept me. For too long I just kept staring at the screen for hours and forcing out ten word sentences that I absolutely hated. I'm not in love with the end result but I don't particularly loathe it either. I think that deserves a hip hip hooray. **

**Anyway, next chapter the boys are back in school (for sure this time) and lovely drama will ensue. Not right away, but the build up will be there. You'll get to see Kurt at the DA meetings, which I haven't included since there always seemed to be something else that needed to be addressed. **

**I'm curious to see what you guys thought about Burt's chat with the boys, or anything else you thought about the chapter, of course. **

**Until next time.**

**-Cerez  
><strong>


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer: I own nothing _Glee_ or _Harry Potter_ related. However, I do own a _How to Succeed in Business _poster with Darren's beautiful face and signature on it, so that's something.  
><strong>

**A/N: Okay, so updates. I need to talk about updates. I'm so sorry, but I have a feeling they are going to be incredibly sporadic and infrequent for a while. I started school two weeks ago and I'm already ridiculously overwhelmed with work, which it why this took me so long to get this out. I'm putting in 14 hour days between work and school five days a week, and I've been crashing as soon as I get home. So I decided to just post what I had finished before school started. It's not its usual length, and as far as plot goes, there's not really any development, but I feel really bad about how long it's been, so I wanted to give you guys something at least. So here you are...**

* * *

><p>Kurt sighed but didn't move from his spot. He had been standing in the doorway of his room for the past he didn't know how long. He was trying to psych himself up, but it wasn't really working. He would have to move eventually, though, because everyone was waiting for him downstairs.<p>

"Come _on_ Kurt!" Finn called impatiently from the living room. "I wanna open my presents!"

Kurt resisted the urge to yell something back and settled for an eye roll instead as he finally crossed over the threshold. Walking to his bed he knelt down and groped around the floor underneath for Blaine's present, which he had hidden there shortly after they had arrived. Once he found it and dragged it out he pulled it onto his lap and stared at the wrapped gift, his stomach twisting in nervous knots. The necklace Blaine gave him hung heavily around his neck and for the first time since he had gotten it, it felt uncomfortably warm against his skin. His fingers curled self-consciously around the edges of the gift in his lap and he briefly thought about putting it back and saying he had accidentally left Blaine's gift at school. That would give him time to get something else. Something better.

He was actually about to do it when he remembered that he had offered to give Blaine his gift last night, and obviously in order to do that it was kind of a given that he would have had it somewhere close by.

Kurt's gift—a Quidditch play book—was actually laughable compared to what Blaine had gotten—no, _made—_him. Admittedly, Kurt's gift choice hadn't been completely out of left field. Blaine had swooned and fawned over the book for weeks in the Quidditch Gear and Supplies catalogue, andthe one Kurt had gotten was signed by all of the Holyhead Harpies, _and_ Ginny Weasley since she was actually the editor of the book, however even that knowledge failed to alleviate Kurt's sour mood.

It wasn't a competition, of course, but a small part of him deep down felt that it was. Blaine's gift definitely had more sentimental value and Kurt couldn't help feel as if that somehow made it better. Especially given that Blaine was a sentimental person.

What was worse was that he hadn't even thought of all this until he and Blaine had made their way into the living room and Carole had taken about ten minutes to gush over how lovely Blaine's gift was. "Is that an eternal flame? Blaine it's beautiful! You _made_ this? Oh, Kurt, you must love it."

And then Finn, whose eyes had nearly popped out of his head at the sight of the little blue flame, had whined to Blaine as he frowned at Kurt's necklace. "Not cool, man," he said with a pouty expression in his face. "None of us guys are going to be able to top _that_ and Rachel's already high maintenance enough."

Kurt bit his lip at the memory.

He wished he had gotten something else. He wished he was more loving like Blaine was because that was what Blaine needed most. Hadn't Blaine said last night that Kurt's love was enough? Kurt didn't see how that was possible if he didn't know his boyfriend well enough to know that any Christmas gift he gave him should be huge. He should have gotten Blaine something that would show him that he was treasured.

Moreover, Blaine had money. They hadn't discussed it, but Kurt could tell. If he had _really_ wanted to have the book then he probably would have just bought it himself.

A knock on the door frame caught his attention and Kurt turned to find Blaine standing in the doorway smiling at him. "Hey, are you okay? You've been up here a while."

Kurt didn't say anything because he felt like he was dangerously close to tears, which was just stupid really. Who cried over things like this?

Unfortunately the effort to will the tears and bad feelings away only intensified the sting behind his eyes and the twist in his stomach.

The smile flew off Blaine's face. "Kurt, what's wrong?" he asked in a rush as he closed the distance between them and knelt beside Kurt. Blaine put his hand on Kurt's back, making him wince. Blaine was the most affectionate person he had ever met. He always found some excuse for them to be touching. Kurt wasn't like that at all.

"Are you okay?"

Again, Kurt didn't say anything. By some miracle none of the tears in his eyes had spilled over yet and he really wanted to keep it that way. Wordlessly, he put the wrapped gift in Blaine's lap.

Blaine glanced down at it for only a second. "What? What's wrong with it?"

"It's yours," Kurt finally whispered, seeing no help for it. "Open it."

This time Blaine didn't look at the gift in his lap at all. "Tell me what's wrong first."

Kurt sighed. Why was he making this difficult? "Please? Please just open it."

Blaine stared at him, studying each of Kurt's eyes individually. After a few seconds, he nodded and moved his hands over the wrapping to uncover the gift. He opened it upside down and Kurt watched with bated breath as Blaine lifted the book from the torn packaging to turn it over. Blaine's mouth fell open when he got his first look of the front cover.

"It's not special like what you gave me," Kurt felt the need to explain. "But you were always looking at it and you never bought it, so…"

Blaine looked up at him with that same dumbfounded look on his face and Kurt rushed to continue with his speech before Blaine could speak. "It's a special edition, and it's signed by all of the Harpies, including Ginny Potter." Kurt bit his lip at the prospect of saying this next bit. "I know it doesn't compare to what you got me, and—"

"Kurt, stop," Blaine cut him off. "What are you talking about? I made that for you because I thought you would like it. That's all. It's value has nothing to do with anything. Didn't I say eternal flames are just magic and some glass about a billion times last night? Honestly? I really don't see the big deal about them. I mean, yeah, not a lot of people can make them, but so what? Liking something only because a lot of people consider it to be valuable is a stupid reason to like something. It should be about whether or not you really, honestly like it, and that's the only reason why I made the flame for you: because I thought you would like it," he repeated. "I wasn't trying to impress you with a rare gift. I was trying to impress you with something I thought you would like."

He looked back down at his book. "This… this is amazing, Kurt. I've wanted it forever, and now I've got it, and it's been signed by my favorite team of all time, including Ginny, and she's not even _on_ the team anymore, and I kind of don't even know what to do with myself because I'm so giddy right now. And I don't know if those are the right things to say to make you feel better, but I can't really think straight right now. I mean, I'm holding something that Gwenog Jones _touched_. Her signature is _right_—"

Unable to help himself, Kurt hurled his body at Blaine and threw his arms around the other boy's neck. His pushed his forehead against that warm spot between Blaine's neck and shoulder. "I love you," he whispered.

Blaine pulled Kurt closer so that he was practically sitting in his lap. "Love you."

"Kurt, what's taking so long?" Finn shouted from downstairs and Blaine pulled back with a laugh.

"He's going to go mental when he sees this," he grinned, though his tone was soft. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Kurt said back as Blaine pulled him forward for a kiss.

* * *

><p>"Jesus!" Kurt protested as he was attacked by two bodies hurtling into his right and left side. How the two of them managed to organize such an attack on the massively crowded platform, Kurt really had no idea. But then again, it was Nick and Jeff, so…<p>

"We missed you, Kurty!" they yelled in that perfect unison Kurt had secretly missed.

And then they ruined it by leaning in and pressing two, wet and very loud twin kisses on both of his cheeks. "Ugh! Cut it out!" he yelled as he tried to push them both away to no avail.

Nick pulled slightly back looking hurt while Jeff snuggled closer, balancing on one foot as he wrapped a leg around both of Kurt's.

"Didn't you hear us say that we missed you?" Nick demanded.

"Missed you lots," Jeff mumbled into Kurt's neck. Kurt rolled his eyes.

"Because you could at least say you missed us back. You're actually hurting our feelings."

"Hurting our feelings," Jeff murmured.

Burt chose then to leave the conversation he was having with Carole and someone else Kurt had never seen before, and approached Kurt with a hesitant, confused expression on his face. Kurt resisted the urge to grin like an idiot as he looked over the Quidditch jersey his father wore that proclaimed him to be the 'Proud Father of a Quidditch Player.' It was the one Blaine had gotten him for Christmas. Blaine had turned about ten shades of red when Burt came downstairs wearing it that morning.

"Where's Blaine?" his father asked in a gruff voice as he eyed the two boys cuddling against Kurt's sides.

Kurt didn't actually know to answer to that question. Blaine and Finn had wandered off just before Kurt had gotten bull rushed to put their trunks with everyone else's, but Kurt didn't see either of them at the loading pile. "Umm, I don't know."

Burt frowned. "Don't you think you should be looking for him instead of doing… whatever this is?" he asked as he gestured at Nick and Jeff.

"Absolutely not," Nick said with a pompous sniff.

Jeff backed him up, of course. "We're not letting go."

"Not until he admits that he missed us."

Burt crossed his arms over his chest in a less than pleased way. "He's got a boyfriend that he can spend his time missing."

Kurt started hard at his father. What the hell was going on here?

Nick snorted and rolled his eyes. "Blainers?" he scoffed. "_Please. _Given the choice between us and _him_, Kurty here would definitely pick us. Wouldn't you, love muffin?"

Burt's jaw started to bulge.

"Of course he would," Jeff said when Kurt didn't answer. "We're better than twins," he said with a devilish smirk.

Burt's nostrils flared. "Kurt, who the hell are these two?"

Kurt's shook his head stupidly, trying to process his current situation. Was Burt seriously trying to defend Blaine's claim on Kurt? That was ridiculous, wasn't it?

But before Kurt was able to do damaged control, Jeff grinned manically and licked him—fucking _licked him—_on the cheek. Jeff cracked up as he pulled back and Nick smirked and high-fived him.

Burt widened his eyes in a rage. "Alright, that's enough, let go of my kid. What the hell is going on here?"

When neither boy let go, Burt made a move as if to forcibly remove them, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"Let me, Mr. Hummel," Thad said calmly before turning a sharp eye on the two boys who shrunk under his gaze. "Get off," he ordered.

Nick rolled his eyes but did as he was told, while Jeff whined like a toddler. "Aww, we were just saying hi," he complained, but he too stepped away from Kurt.

Thad ignored him and turned his attention to Burt, holding out a hand for him to shake, which his father took after a moment of hesitation. "I'm Thad Hardwood, one of Kurt's friends."

"Uh... hey," was Burt's response.

"Hardwood," Jeff snickered like he always did whenever Thad said his last name.

Thad ignored the blonde and looked to Kurt. "Hello, Kurt. Did you have a good holiday?"

Kurt nodded. "Yes," he said a little breathlessly, trying to avoid his father's incredulous stare as his gaze shifted between Thad and Kurt. "You?"

"It was nice." Thad smiled a little then and glanced at Jeff who had an extremely stupid grin on his face. "I'll see you on the train. It was nice to meet you, Mr. Hummel."

Burt shook himself, looking at Thad as if he didn't have the slightest idea what to make of him. "Uh, right."

Thad nodded his head politely and turned to go, Nick and Jeff following closely behind as they grumbled over their reunion getting interrupted.

Burt caught Kurt's eye as soon as the three were out of earshot. Kurt hadn't done anything wrong, but his father's stare made him feel like he had. "You want to tell me what that was about?"

Kurt grimaced. "Those are my friends. They're…"

"Are they gay?"

Kurt's eyebrows rose. "Um, Thad is. Nick is straight… Jeff is, well, I'm not really sure."

Burt didn't look very satisfied with Kurt's answer. "Why were they kissing you? I don't think Blaine would—"

Burt cut himself off as Blaine walked up, and Kurt resisted the urge to roll his eyes, though he supposed he should at least be grateful that Burt wasn't about to sell him out. Not that there was anything to sell him out for in the first place.

"I saw Nick and Jeff all over you," Blaine rolled his eyes.

Burt looked instantly uncomfortable.

"So I sent Thad over," he continued and he turned to watch the three boys getting on the train. "They sure don't waste any time…"

"Can someone please explain what is going on?"

"Those were my—our—friends," Blaine sighed. "They're annoying, but harmless mostly."

Burt snorted. "And the kissing thing?"

"They're just messing around, Dad," Kurt said. Then he rolled his eyes. "Did you really think I'd do that to Blaine?"

Blaine looked surprised at that, and turned to stare blankly at Burt, who merely jammed his hands in his pockets. "Not really, no. But with the kissing and the…licking or whatever…"

Kurt huffed. "Well, I assure you that I'm not being unfaithful to my boyfriend with Nick and Jeff, one of whom is, like I said, straight." Then again, what did Kurt know? Maybe Nick was gay too. Maybe all the Ravenclaw boys were. It seemed to be a trend in their group.

The train let out a loud whistle to indicate last call.

"We should go," Kurt said to Blaine, who still looked a bit dazed.

"Yeah, you go ahead, kid," Burt said as he pulled Kurt into a tight one armed hug. "I want to talk to Blaine a sec. Don't forget to give Carole a hug on your way over."

* * *

><p>Kurt sighed as the train rocked and lurched, his head knocking against the floor. It didn't hurt, but it was annoying. Somehow Blaine had talked him into trying to hide away from their friends in one of the more deserted parts of the train, which Kurt had pretty much been on board with. Things got weird, however, when they finally found a vacant compartment and Blaine unceremoniously dropped to the floor and insisted Kurt join him there.<p>

"Blaine, this is stupid. They are going to find us eventually."

"Shhh," Blaine said with a happy grin on his face. His eyes were closed and he was using the dip between Kurt's chest and shoulder as a pillow. "No they won't. Now be quiet, love, I'm sleeping."

"The only way someone could sleep on a surface this rickety is if they were dead. And you're talking to me, so you're definitely not dead."

"Ghosts can talk," Blaine pointed out.

"Fine. You're breathing then," Kurt conceded the other boy's point.

"Point to you. But it's still quiet time and I'm trying to cuddle you."

"Trying? I'm pretty sure you already succeeded at that. I couldn't move if I tried."

Blaine lifted his head to pout. "Would you want to?"

"Not really," Kurt admitted. "But a pillow or something would be nice. I'm not really into having my brain rattle around in my skull."

Blaine grinned and sat up to shrug off his robes. "Lift," he commanded softly and Kurt complied as Blaine slid the fabric under his head. "Better?" he asked once Kurt was situated.

"Not yet," Kurt said and held out his arms to indicate Blaine should lie back down. Blaine was being kind of precious, and it put Kurt in a rarely affectionate mood.

Blaine grinned like Kurt had known he would and fell into his arms.

"Oomph," Kurt said as Blaine's weight crashed back down on him. "Are you trying to break me?"

"Never, never," Blaine said as he turned his head to place a kiss against Kurt's shoulder.

Kurt pushed his fingers into Blaine's lose curls and allowed himself to relax. He massaged Blaine's scalp lightly, careful not to pull the curls so much that they got puffy. Not that it really would have mattered either way, because the only reason why Blaine's hair was free of product at the moment was because Kurt had banished the gel from it as soon as they were alone. Blaine would be expecting him to put it back before they left.

"So are you going to tell me why you're being so antisocial?"

"I'm not being antisocial," Blaine mumbled. "You're here."

"Yes, but it's been pretty much me and you for the past fourteen days with Finn and my parents occasionally butting in. You haven't seen your friends in a while."

Blaine frowned. "They're your friends too."

"I know, but they were yours first. Since you guys were eleven."

"Yeah, but they like you better now," Blaine said with a teasing grin.

"Of course they do," Kurt rolled his eyes. "But that was always destined to be the inevitable outcome. And stop avoiding the question."

Blaine grimaced. "Caught that, did you?"

Kurt sighed and de-tangled his hand from Blaine's hair. "Does this have something to do with what my dad said to you?"

"No," Blaine said a little too fast. He took a breath. "Not really."

Kurt groaned. "What did he say? I'm going to kill him if it was bad."

Blaine bit his lip. "It wasn't bad," he said softly.

"Then what was it?" Kurt pressed.

"Too good to be true."

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing... He—he said that he knew—about my parents, I guess. He said he knew there was more going on there than either of us were saying. He said if things ever get really bad, I could come over whenever I needed and that Carole would fix your fireplace to admit me. Well, he called it the Floo-fire-thing, but I got the gist of it. And… I don't know. It just reminded me, I guess, that all of this is sort of a dream, you know? You and me being all happy and stuff. When we go back to school… I mean, nothing disappeared or went away or fixed itself just because we went on holiday. My parents are still my parents, half the school is still terrified of me, and Chase is still—and, just… I don't know…"

Blaine trailed off and Kurt's stomach churned as if it was about to cave in on itself. "You don't think you'll be happy with me when we get back to school?"

"What? No. _No_. That's not what I meant. I'll always be happy with you. I just meant that reality is about to come crashing back down on me and I just want to avoid that for a little bit longer. But only with you."

There it was again. Blaine was always saying things that Kurt had no idea how to respond to. It made him feel horrible when Blaine got this way, because it was so obvious that Blaine never expected anything positive to happen to him. It was heart breaking. It was also daunting, because Kurt didn't know how exactly to fix it or if Blaine even wanted him to try.

He had been hoping that Blaine had made some progress the past two weeks, but maybe that had been naiive. Then again, Blaine had just poured his heart out so maybe that was a small step forward.

"Okay," Kurt said simply, because what else was there to say? It must have been right, though, because Blaine looked slowly up at him, smiling almost shyly.

"I love you."

Warmth spread through his veins. "I love you too."

Blaine put his head back down and sighed contentedly. "That still blows me away. That you love me back."

"I'll always love you back."

"No matter what?"

"No matter what," Kurt agreed easily.

"But what about—what if you find out one day that there's something about me you don't like very much?"

Kurt snorted, trying to defuse some of the seriousness of Blaine's inquiry. "I think I've already made it pretty clear that I don't like how much gel you put in your hair." There was something about Blaine's tone that Kurt didn't like.

"Not nice," Blaine mumbled. "I let you take it out."

"Yeah," Kurt huffed. "For _now_."

"For now."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: So, this didn't get to where I planned on taking it to, which was all the way to the DA meeting, but like I said, I just wanted to get it out there for you all. Besides, if I kept going even a little bit, I would have had to stop with a cliff hanger and I don't want to do since I don't know when I'll be able to update next. It was oddly tempting though…**

**Hopefully this slump that I'm in is just because I'm not used to my new schedule yet because falling asleep at 9pm, which makes me feel like I've wasted valuable hours of my life.**

**Anyway, DA meeting next and obviously lots of Klaine. And Chase. Oh, and Blaine's parents. It's probably about time they had some sort of direct influence on the story.**

**Again, sorry for how short and random it is, but I hoped you still enjoyed it at least a little bit.**

**Until next time.**


	18. Chapter 18

A/N: So this chapter is pretty depressing. I don't know, it just came out like that. I really hadn't planned on it getting quite as emotionally involved as it did, but too late to turn back now…

Just a warning to you guys so you don't charge in blindly.

* * *

><p>When the train finally came to a stop, Blaine admitted that he still wasn't ready to share Kurt with anyone else, so he agreed to wait with Blaine in the shadows while everyone piled into the carriages that would take them up to the castle. Only when the station was pretty much vacant did Blaine grab Kurt's hand and pull him forward to claim a carriage.<p>

Blaine made a ridiculous show of handing him up into the thing and Kurt rolled his eyes and giggled as he accepted the assistance. They rode together in silence with Kurt's head resting comfortably on Blaine's shoulder and their hands clasped together in Blaine's lap.

"I missed this place so much," Blaine said as he looked up at the castle that towered over them, the light from within shining beautifully against the night sky. All around them their classmates were in motion, hurrying towards the castle to get out of the cold. The air was freezing and it chilled Kurt slightly just thinking about it, but he was content to stay in the freezing cold with Blaine so long as it was what the other boy needed.

Blaine tore his eyes away from the castle suddenly, looking slightly panicked. "Not that I didn't love spending Christmas with you, because I did. It was the best Christmas I've ever had."

Kurt smiled and shook off Blaine's concern. "It's okay, I knew what you meant." Blaine sighed, looking relieved and Kurt smiled. "Are you ready to see everyone else now?"

Blaine looked back at Hogwarts and pulled his bottom lip into his mouth. "Actually, no. Do you want to go for a fly with me? I'm not ready yet."

Blaine was nuts. It was cold enough standing stock still. Kurt couldn't imagine how much colder it would be moving up in the air with the icy wind blowing in his face.

"Please, love?" Blaine pleaded, obviously catching the hesitation on Kurt's face. "Just a quick one. Fifteen minutes tops, and then we can hole ourselves up in the Room of Requirement with hot cocoa. I'll even make a fire and it's not even Thursday."

"Alright," Kurt relented, because that sounded pretty amazing actually. "Let's go find our trunks so we can get our brooms. They probably haven't put them up in the dorms yet."

"Do we have to?" Blaine whined. "It'll take forever to go inside, find our trunks, get our brooms, and get back out here. Can't we just—"

"No way," Kurt cut him off, already knowing what he was going to say. "I am _not_ going to use a school broom. Not happening."

Blaine heaved a big sigh. "Fine," he groaned and allowed Kurt to tug him up the slight incline towards the school.

It wasn't long before Kurt was practically dragging him along. "_Blaine. _Stop being difficult and walk like a normal person."

"But Kuuurt, my legs really, really, _really_ hurt!" He complained like a child. Then he grinned. "You should carry me."

"Are you crazy?" he asked, but Blaine was already surging forward to throw his arms over Kurt's shoulders. He leaned heavily on Kurt, giving him his full weight as he slumped against him.

Kurt gasped and came to an abrupt halt as he made a mad grab for Blaine's wrists to keep him from sliding to the ground face first. "Are you serious right now?"

Blaine giggled and nuzzled his nose against the back of Kurt's neck.

"Ack—Blaine! Stop! That's cold!"

"No way, love. My nose is cold and you're gonna make it warm again. With your neck warmth."

"Oh my god, Blaine, you are so ridiculous," Kurt said, but couldn't stop himself from laughing. "Seriously, get off. You're kind of heavy."

"Mean. You are so mean. You're calling me fat."

Kurt rolled his eyes. "No, I'm calling you heavy."

"That's the same thing!"

"Is not, now _walk._"

"Can't," Blaine whined in Kurt's ear. "Carry meeee."

Huffing, Kurt reached behind them both and pinched Blaine on the ass. Hard.

Blaine yelped and jumped back.

"You—you _pinched _me," he accused, pointing at Kurt with an appalled expression on his face, his hand darting back to rub the abused area. "I cannot believe you pinched me! On my _ass._ That actually hurt. And you're _laughing_!"

"Oh my god, you screamed like a little girl. I've never heard your voice go so high."

Blaine scowled at that. "Still not higher than yours," he grumbled adorably, still rubbing himself.

"Watch it, Anderson," Kurt warned, narrowing his eyes at his boyfriend.

"Or what?" Blaine taunted.

"I'll pinch you again."

"Promise?" Blaine asked in a gravelly tone and a sexy, seductive smirk on his lips, and Kurt felt the tips of his ears go red, because Blaine had never looked at him like _that_ before. "Aw, Kurt, you're blushing."

"Shut up, Blaine."

Blaine stuck out his lip. "But it's the cutest thing ever when you blush."

Kurt scowled. "Are we going flying, or what?"

"Yes!" Blaine all but shouted and grabbed Kurt's hand excitedly, apparently forgetting that he was supposed to be pretending that he was in 'pain' so he could convince Kurt to carry him. Kurt smiled at the back of Blaine's curly head (Blaine had forgotten to re-style his hair once the train had stopped and Kurt might have 'forgotten' to remind him) and squeezed Blaine's hand.

Blaine turned to grin happily back at him, which was why he hadn't been looking where he was going and almost walked straight into McGonagall, who was standing in the middle of the entrance hall still as stone. The Headmistress made no move to move out of Blaine's way so Kurt was forced to stop short to prevent Blaine from going any farther. His arm wrenched a little in its socket as he took on Blaine's weight, but he held tight and steadied Blaine when he momentarily lost balance and lurched forward.

"Mr. Anderson," McGonagall said with a serious expression on her stern face. Blaine turned at the sound of his name and started in alarm at witch's severe closeness. He quickly moved back, knocking into Kurt.

"I've been waiting for you," McGonagall continued in a clipped tone that could have suggested that she was merely annoyed at having to be kept waiting, but there was something more serious than that in her eyes.

Blaine tugged his hand out of Kurt's grasp and let it fall to his side and Kurt tried not to let it bother him.

"For me?" he asked, looking up at the taller witch. Blaine looked very small compared to the Headmistress and Kurt felt a ridiculous urge to step between the two of them.

"Yes. I need you come with me. Immediately."

Blaine's eyes went slightly wide at the seriousness in her tone and expression.

Kurt felt his blood run cold as ice. This wasn't supposed to happen. Not the very second they got back, not after the talk they had on the train. Blaine's fears of everything crumbling around him when they got back to school were supposed to have been unfounded. Not after they had been having so much fun teasing and joking around with each other. He should have listened to Blaine. He should have agreed to use one of the brooms in the supply shed.

"What's going on, Professor?" Kurt asked.

McGonagall turned her hard gaze on him. "Nothing that concerns you, Mr. Hummel. I suggest you head into the Great Hall with the rest of the students. Anderson, you come with me."

No, no, no. Kurt couldn't let Blaine go with her. "Why can't Blaine come too, Professor? We haven't eaten anything all day and I'm sure he's hungry."

"Be that as it may," McGonagall responded with barely contained impatience, "I still need you to come with me, Anderson. You can eat later."

Kurt refused to give up. "But—"

Blaine cut him off. "I'm really not hungry, Kurt," he said in a small voice. "Don't worry about it."

"Right. Come along," McGonagall said as she turned and Kurt stood rooted to the spot as Blaine followed the woman down the hall without looking back.

* * *

><p>Blaine followed the Headmistress silently without speaking. His throat and stomach felt like they were stuffed with cotton so trying to talk would have been pointless anyway. Something really bad was about to happen, he could feel it, and he was making himself sick as he ran through all of the possibilities in his head.<p>

Maybe his mother had overdosed on dreamless sleep potion again and was comatose in St. Mungo's. Maybe his dad had a new potion to pour down his throat. Maybe it would actually force him to be attracted to girls this time and he would forget that he loved Kurt more than he loved air.

Maybe they had found out about what he had Chase did together in the Chamber and they would both be expelled. Blaine would be shipped out on the next train to London and the rumors would spread through the school like fiendfyre. Kurt would hear about it through whispers passed from person to person behind cupped hands, and he would be mortified and ridiculed and laughed at, and it would be all Blaine's fault. Kurt would hate him forever—would have every right to—and Blaine would lose Kurt and the closest thing he had to a family.

If that were the case then he chose the potion.

They came to a stop in front of the gargoyle and McGonagall said "Severus" loud and clear. The stone figure sprang to life and moved out of the way. McGonagall made no move to go up the stairs, though, so neither did Blaine.

"Blaine," she said, startling him with the use of his first name. There was only one other time she had called him by his first name and Blaine had no desire to revisit that particular day of his life. "I'm sorry for what is about to happen. Please just give as little information as you can and I'll see about getting you back to Mr. Hummel as soon as I am able."

So he wasn't getting expelled then. That made him feel a little bit better, but not by much.

McGonagall sighed beside him. "Let's get this over with," she said, sounding weary as she stepped onto the staircase. Blaine followed, his stomach rolling in protest as the staircase came to life and carried them up.

Blaine came to an abrupt stop almost the second he stepped foot in McGonagall's office and he stared stupidly at what he found there as his brain sort of shut down. It didn't matter that this had been on his list of possible outcomes. It hadn't prepared him for it in the slightest because he had still hoped that just maybe he would be wrong.

"Stop gawking at me, Blaine, and sit down," Carl Anderson said without so much as turning his head to look in Blaine's direction and Blaine's body immediately kicked into action at the command. He nearly tripped over himself in his haste to do as he was told.

Carl took a deep, impatient breath at Blaine's near stumble. Blaine felt his cheeks color with humiliation and he forced himself to go slower, taking great care as he lowered himself into the seat next to his father's.

He hadn't seen his father in months and now suddenly they were in the same room and Carl couldn't be bothered to so much as glance in Blaine's direction. The wrongness of it crept up his skin and made him feel sick even though he knew he shouldn't. After everything Carl had put him through he should be relieved that he wasn't being subjected to the disgust he would find in his father's eyes.

McGonagall watched the two of them interact with piercing eyes and Blaine shifted under her gaze and wished he could hide away somewhere where he couldn't be seen.

"Let's not waste any time," Carl said as soon as Blaine was seated. Blaine snapped his head to look at his father like an obedient puppet responding to a command. "I want to know where Blaine has been for the past two weeks because he wasn't here and he wasn't at home."

Blaine's mouth went instantly dry, making his tongue feel like splintered wood. His body temperature seemed to flare up to about a thousand degrees.

That couldn't be right.

There was just no way that was right. His father actually _checked_ _up_ on him? The idea of it was laughable, really, because that would suggest that Carl Anderson had actually taken time out of his busy schedule _for Blaine._ It left Blaine reeling as he struggled to wrap his mind around the impossible.

Yet there Carl sat as his proof, asking where Blaine had been over the holiday because he hadn't been in either of the two places he was supposed to have been.

For one miserable second, Blaine allowed himself to rejoice at the fact that his father had actually come all this way just to find out where he had been, just like any other concerned parent would have done. Just like any _normal_ parent would have done. Blaine relished in it, feeling triumphant. He felt almost giddy as he imagined a ridiculous fantasy world where he actually meant something to his father.

"I'm waiting, Blaine," Carl's voice shattered Blaine's happy thoughts.

"I—What?" His brain still felt uncooperative, like goo.

Carl finally turned to stare at him. "You know perfectly well what."

"I…I…"

"Stop it, Blaine. Answer the question. Where were you and who were you with?"

The happy little delusion he had created for himself vanished in a second with that one question and reality slapped him hard in the face. Kurt. He had been with Kurt. He had spent a beautiful, amazing, glorious two weeks with Kurt and his father could never, ever find out about it.

Carl was waiting with his hands curling too tightly around the arms of his chair but Blaine could only sit there with his heart pounding in his throat and his tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth. He didn't know what to say. He couldn't think. He absolutely couldn't tell the truth. Saying that he had stayed with a boy who was not only gay, but a Mudblood as well would send his father into a frenzy. Blaine would probably end up in St. Mungo's drugged out of his right mind. Lying wouldn't work either. Of the pureblood families Blaine knew, only a small selection of them were considered acceptable company by his father, and of those select few, none would have any qualms whatsoever about calling Blaine out on his lie.

"Apparently," Carl said in an even tone at Blaine's continued silence, "a simple answer to a direct question is too complicated for you to handle. I'll simplify it for you. You can either tell me now, or you _will_ tell me later. Your choice."

Blaine didn't doubt it Carl's words. His father had a very large stash of the truth serum formally known as Veritaserum and he had used it on Blaine before. The memory of the vile liquid slinking its way down Blaine's throat had Blaine's stomach lurching in protest at the thought of having to choke down again. His body naturally rejected most potions, and Veritaserum, though tasteless and odorless, was no exception. If he took it he would no doubt spend a very unhappy hour gasping out his dearest secrets in between vomiting spells. Needless to say, he didn't want anything to do with it.

He took a peak at McGonagall for help, who was staring hard at his father with her lips pressed into a thin line. Her eyes flashed to Blaine for the tiniest moment and she gave a barely discernible shake of her head.

"I—I was… a friend. I was with a friend." In the corner of his eye he saw McGonagall relax a fraction.

Carl's eyes clearly reflected his displeasure at not receiving a straight answer. He seemed to forget himself for a moment by letting his impatience shine through the mask he wore. _"Who?"_

"If I may interject, Carl," McGonagall cut in. "Blaine, I hope you understand the seriousness of what you have done. As a school prefect and a possible candidate for Head Boy next year, I must say you overstepped your boundaries immensely. However, this is your signature, Carl, is it not?" McGonagall held up the signed permission form with his father's name both written and penned in black ink.

Carl calmly regarded the witch, expertly regaining his Ministry-man composure. "Yes. I signed my name at the bottom, leaving filling out the rest of the form up to him, but that isn't the point. He was still somewhere he shouldn't have been and he ignored my instructions to either spend the holiday here or at our manor."

"I understand that quite well," McGonagall said, nonplused. "However, you bare some of the responsibility. It clearly states here that you gave full permission for Blaine to spend the holiday in Devon, which I am assuming he did." She looked back at Blaine and paused for a confirmation, which Blaine readily gave by way of a nod. "Right. Now, admittedly, we know now that it had never been your intention to allow him to go there, but this is why we ask that parents fill out the form in its entirety instead of leaving it up to the students."

His father barely batted an eye. "Again, that is not the point. The point is that I expected him to do one thing and he did another. I demand to know the name of each of the students whose families live in Devon so I can begin making arrangements to find out who my son spent an entire fourteen days with."

"Confidentiality agreements—"

"Do not apply in this situation," Carl interrupted smoothly. "The boy was essentially missing for two weeks. As his legal guardian I have every right to know who he spent that time with."

McGonagall didn't back down. "That still doesn't change the fact that I cannot give you information that has been classified as confidential. It would be against the privacy policies of our students and their families. And as far as your rights to your son's whereabouts are concerned, I will remind you that once students are off the train, it is the parent's responsibility to collect them. Inadvertently or not, you gave your son permission to leave this school, and so the rest is out of my hands. Now if he had forged your signature that would have been a different story, but that is impossible because the charm on the slip prevents such a thing. This isn't a muggle school. Students can't just fake signatures without us knowing about it."

"I know _that_," Carl snapped, eyes blazing and mask forgotten.

"Then you know that the only person who can tell you where Blaine was is Blaine, and since he is choosing to remain silent, there is nothing either of us can do about it. I'm sure you are aware that the use of Veritasserum on a minor, with or without their consent, is illegal without a proper permit from a judge."

Blaine's mouth fell open. So McGonagall had caught the hidden meaning behind his father's words.

Carl's eyes narrowed dangerously. "I don't think I appreciate what you are implying."

"I'm not implying anything. I am merely stating a fact and solidifying my earlier statement that if Blaine does not wish to share where he was with us then there is nothing we can do about it." She adjusted her glasses in a distracted way. "Anyhow, I think we have wasted time enough. Let's move on." She fixed her gaze on Blaine. "Manipulating your father's judgment, as misjudged as his judgment may have been, was still dishonest and that cannot go unpunished. You will spend the next three weeks cleaning the Potions dungeons after dinner each evening and will be striped of your Prefect privileges for the same amount of time. I believe that's all, Blaine. You may go down to dinner at this time."

Blaine mentally cheered for his professor, slightly in awe of her. His father was completely silent. He didn't say another word and Blaine couldn't help staring at the man in bewilderment. He didn't think he could ever remember a time when his father had backed down from a debate.

"Blaine," McGonagall said sharply to get his attention, her tone willing him to take the hint. "You may go," she repeated. "I have something I would like to discuss with your father."

"O-okay," he said, feeling dazed and stood up.

Carl stood too. "That won't be necessary, Minerva. I have taken too much time out of my day as it is. Feel free to floo me tomorrow if you still wish to talk." Carl's hand reached out to wrap tightly around Blaine's bicep. "Come, Blaine. Walk me to the Entrance Hall."

Panicked, Blaine looked back to his Headmistress, who no longer had a triumphant glint in her eye. She stared back at him, her expression neutral for the most part, but anyone who looked closely enough could see the underlying distress in her eyes that she tried to keep hidden. He tried to smile to thank her for the effort, even though it hadn't panned out in the end, but he wasn't able to muster it and grimaced instead as Carl's fingers dug into his arm and pulled, forcing Blaine to move.

The halls were deserted since everyone was at dinner and they didn't walk far before Carl spun Blaine around to face him.

His father's eyes were blazing at he glared angrily down at Blaine. For a moment nothing was said or done, but only for a moment. With his large hand curled around Blaine's too small shoulder, Carl shoved Blaine up against a wall and jammed a small vile against Blaine's throat, just under his chin.

"I should force this down your throat for that disgusting display of insolence back there," Carl spat, increasing the force of the vile against Blaine's neck.

Blaine focused on trying not to gag. The corked vile that was no doubt filled with Veritaserum was pressing uncomfortably hard against the side of his Adam's apple, making his throat burn.

"But I can't do that, can I, Blaine? Not with Minerva McGonagall sniffing around. She's probably just waiting to have you tested for trace amounts of potion in your system. What have you been saying to people?"

"N-Nothing," Blaine forced out. His eyes shifted around. Just once, he wished someone would come to his rescue. Anyone. It didn't matter who. All it would take was one person to walk by and his father would back off. Blainee would give just about anything in the world to be rescued from the cruelty in his Carl's eyes. He had been wrong before. Everything was so much better when his father wasn't looking at him.

His stomach lurched unpleasantly at the thought and he could feel a discomforting, cool emptiness in his throat, as if it was clearing the way for the bile that was threatening to force its way up. He reminded himself that no one ever came for him. Not ever, no matter how desperately he needed it. It wasn't fair.

Carl shoved himself away from Blaine with a sound of disgust. "Stop it," he ordered sharply. "Stop crying, it's degrading. You are so unforgivably pathetic, Blaine, it makes me feel sick. For once in your life, can't you pretend to at least _act_ like a man?"

Blaine tried to stop it, but his bottom lip trembled at the words and Carl scowled as if Blaine was the saddest disappointment he had ever laid eyes on.

"Be aware, Blaine, that you can't hide behind your professors forever. You'll have to come home soon enough, and when you do, you can be sure that every spec of food you receive will be doused with the strongest truth serum I can create. If you said anything to _anyone_, I'll find out. You can try to starve yourself again, but you'll eat eventually.

Carl left like he always did, abruptly and without warning, stalking away from Blaine as quickly as he could, as if Blaine was diseased. There was an aching burn under his chin from where the vile had been pressed so tightly against the tender skin, but it was quickly washed away by the anger that replaced his fear once Carl was out of his sight. Blaine's magic hummed and crackled under his skin, threatening to rip up his insides. He glared hard at the spot his father had just been standing in, his body shaking as he struggled to remain calm. It wasn't working, though, because he felt keyed up in the worst way and completely wrong inside his own skin.

His feet seemed to move on his own accord then, the need to do something reckless pushing him forward, making him feel as if he was pent up in his own body and needed to tear his way out.

Blaine would show him. He would show that miserable fuck that he didn't own him. Blaine could do whatever he wanted and no one, not even Carl fucking Anderson, could do one damned thing about it. His father wasn't the only one who could take what he wanted when he wanted to take it.

Blaine was surprised to find Kurt standing outside the Great Hall, looking nervous and even scared, but Blaine masked his surprise quickly and started to close the distance between them. It was better this way. At least he wouldn't have to venture into a crowded hall to find Kurt.

"Blaine," Kurt breathed when he finally saw him and helpfully walked forward to meet him. "What hap—?"

"Come with me," Blaine cut him off and without waiting for a reply he grabbed Kurt's hand and started dragging him towards the nearest staircase.

"Blaine, what's going on?" Kurt asked, though he didn't try to resist.

Blaine didn't answer. Instead he focused on keeping his magic in check and was extremely proud of himself when not one picture or candle exploded in his rage as he led Kurt towards the Room of Requirement. A few flames flickered and flared, but that was it.

Kurt kept asking questions Blaine refused to answer as he paced back and forth in front of the wall, demanding that it open itself to him. When the door finally appeared, it was a dark washed wood, splintered and mangled and fitting of his fowl mood. Blaine practically ripped it open and he pulled Kurt inside.

"Blaine, seriously, what's—?"

This time Blaine silenced Kurt with his mouth as he all but shoved the other boy up against the nearest bit of wall. He licked at Kurt's unmoving lips, begging Kurt to let him in. When that didn't work, Blaine pressed his hips against Kurt's and rolled, making him gasp, which Blaine used to his advantage as he licked his way into Kurt's mouth.

Kurt hummed and tilted his head to deepen the angry kiss as he draped his arms over Blaine's shoulders and pulled him closer. Blaine felt like he was trying to eat Kurt's tongue, but he couldn't be bothered enough to care. Kurt was responding gloriously, mewing into Blaine's mouth and humming low in his throat.

Just when Blaine thought Kurt had finally relented fully to the kiss, Kurt twisted his head to the side, breaking the connection of their mouths. Blaine whined like a child and tried to reconnect their lips, but Kurt evaded him.

"What's going on?" Kurt asked, breathing hard and sounding breathless, though he didn't release his hold on Blaine's neck, which he was grateful for.

"_I need you_," Blaine said forcibly, his whole body aching. He was well aware that he sounded way beyond overly desperate, but, again, he didn't much care. He _felt_ desperate.

Kurt didn't say anything in response, choosing to remain silent as he looked at Blaine with eyes that were blown slightly wide in shock. Still, even with the slight alarm in Kurt's eyes, Blaine could clearly see the suspicion in those gray-blue depths as well. Kurt was searching him. Afraid of what Kurt would find if he looked too long, Blaine quickly hid his face by pressing his mouth against Kurt's neck.

"Just kiss me," he ordered, but it came out more like a plea. "Okay?" he begged, his lips tracing against Kurt's skin as he spoke.

Kurt made a soft whining sound and Blaine took that as permission enough to kiss his way up Kurt's neck and back to his lips.

This time Kurt didn't pull away as they practically devoured each other's mouths, moving roughly together against the wall. Blaine took hold of Kurt's hands and forced them into his own hair. He still felt too composed and put together and it made him feel restless. He wanted to be wrecked beyond his own recognition. When he looked in the mirror later, he wanted to see someone so different from his normal, stupidly perfect, not-one-hair-out-of-place self that it would take him a full minute to wrap his mind around the fact that he was staring at his own reflection.

So when Kurt curled his fingers around Blaine's carefully gelled-into-place curls, Blaine moaned like a whole and his eyes rolled back in his head. Blaine fisted his hands in Kurt's uniform shirt and forcibly yanked it out of his pants, his kisses turning sloppy as he struggled to kiss Kurt and unbutton the stupid shirt at the same time. But it wasn't working, and he couldn't get the damn thing open and panic began to set in. He needed it _now_ and he needed it fast, but his fingers wouldn't _work_ and didn't even know exactly what _it_ was, but if he didn't get it he just knew he would fall apart. He would unravel until there was nothing left, but _damn it_ the fucking shirt wouldn't _work with him._ He sobbed desperately in frustration at his inability force the little buttons through the too small holes.

When he sobbed a second time, even more brokenly than the first had been and painfully obvious that it wasn't a good sob, Kurt tensed and pulled his mouth away.

"Hey," Kurt said softly as his hands came up to hold Blaine's shaking ones. "Hey, stop. Calm down."

Blaine shook his head stubbornly, his eyes hurting from tears that stung and burned but didn't actually fall. He tried to grab back at Kurt's shirt, but Kurt was strong and held tight.

"Yes, baby, come on. Let's go sit. I can't do this. Not when you're all… just please some sit with me."

Kurt's soft voice accompanied by the rare endearment washed over him and Blaine slumped against the other boy as the fight left him. He felt horribly empty, but at the same time, he also felt much too full—like he was about to burst at the seams if he didn't find some way to release the raw emotion coursing through his veins.

He felt utterly out of his own control and he wondered why Kurt wouldn't just give him what he needed. Why couldn't Kurt just go along with it and let Blaine do what he needed to feel normal again?

He had a sudden strong but fleeting desire to break away from Kurt's arms and go find Chase and drag him down to the Chamber. Chase would give him what Kurt wouldn't. Chase would make it all go away for a moment. He would make Blaine forget, make him feel less like a puppet and more like the person controlling his own strings; someone who was in charge of his own life.

Blaine actually released his death grip on Kurt in preparation to run. His entire body was tensed for it, but at the very last second the realization of what he was about to do slammed into him like a freight train.

What was _wrong_ with him? How could he even _think_ about… _that?_

Granted, the impulse to find Chase had been like a strike of lightning in his mind—there one second and then gone the next, but the temptation to actually do it, to actually fall back into his old routine for dealing with his insecurities, had been strong enough to not only make him want to vomit, but also make him wonder whether he actually would have done it if Kurt hadn't been standing right there in front of him as a reminder as he shouldn't.

The room took a sudden turn then, tilting in a completely disorienting way and Blaine tilted with it. Kurt caught him before he reeled back far enough to actually fall.

"Fuck!" Kurt said, sounding beyond worried. Then Kurt half dragged, half carried Blaine to the ripped up couch the room had created for them.

As soon as he was seated, Blaine curled on his side and clutched the moldy smelling fabric. He squeezed his eyes shut, buried his face against the cushions, and willed his head to stop spinning.

"_Aguamenti,_" Kurt said softly from somewhere close by and Blaine heard the soft slap of water against something hard and then the more hallow sound of something being quickly filled with liquid.

Kurt's warm hands pressed against Blaine's face, which felt clammy and cool. "Can you drink this? It's water."

At the mention of water, Blaine's mouth went horribly dry, but he whined and refused to move because he still felt dizzy and the idea of trying to sit up made him feel weak.

"You don't have to move," Kurt said in a hushed tone Blaine was thankful for. Something slim and narrow forced its way between his lips. "Suck," Kurt commanded.

Blaine did as he was told and delicious water filled his mouth and slipped down his throat, though swallowing stung a little. Still, he was greedy for it, and the sounds of his own gulping filled up his ears. It still wasn't loud enough to drown out the sound of Kurt's soft gasp.

"Oh my god," Kurt gasped. Then Blaine felt Kurt's fingers press carefully against his neck just under his jaw. Blaine choked a little at the burn, coughing up water.

"Shit, sorry." Kurt quickly pulled his hand away, but the ache didn't lessen, which was ironic since five minutes ago it hadn't been hurting at all. Or maybe he had just been too far gone to notice or care. It didn't matter, he felt it now. Still, he tried to ignore it as best he could as he opened his mouth in search for the straw that had fallen when he coughed. Kurt helped him to find it again and Blaine drank until there was nothing left.

He started crying silent tears then and Kurt pulled the straw away from Blaine's lips.

"Blaine, what's _wrong?_ What happened to your neck?"

Blaine said nothing and Kurt tried again.

"Blaine, you're really scaring me. Please… I don't know what to do."

Blaine pushed himself more firmly into the cushions and shook. "I hate him," he whispered. "I hate him, I hate him, I ha-hate him." His sobs became slightly more forceful, making talking a challenge, but he couldn't bring himself to stop. "I hate him so mu-much. Why? Why can't he jus-just love m-me? He won't lo-love me."

"Honey, please," Kurt pleaded, though Blaine couldn't see his face because he still refused to open his eyes. "You're not making sense. Hate who? What happened?"

"My—my f-father was he-here. He kn-knows I left school for the break-k." He hated this. He hated talking like this, he hated feeling like he couldn't catch his breath. He forced himself to stop breathing entirely for a few seconds, trying to re-start his respiratory system, which was just stupid really, but his brain felt something like mush and it seemed like a brilliant idea. It didn't work, of course. The sobs forced their way up despite his best efforts.

"But… But how? I thought neither of them would be come home for another month."

Blaine had thought the same.

Kurt's hands ghosted over the edge of his jaw, far enough away so that he didn't actually touch where it hurt. "Did he do this to you?"

Blaine nodded without knowing what his neck actually looked like. It must have bruised, or still be red or something. His father had never left a mark on him before and now he would have to cover it up.

"He can't just do that to you," Kurt said.

_Well, he did, _Blaine thought, and he could feel himself getting angry again. He hated that his emotions were always so out of control. He wondered why someone like Kurt was with a basket case like him.

"Madam Pilsbery should have something—"

At the mention of the school nurse, Blaine's breaths doubled in speed. "N-No." She would probably just give him some stupid potion that was meant to soothe the bruise or mark or whatever it was, but really it would only make him throw up. He didn't need that right now.

"Shh, okay. We won't, but I don't know how to help you. I want to help you."

"You can't," Blaine said cryptically. Then guilt made him realize how awkward saying it probably made Kurt feel. "Sorry. I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize, Blaine. You have nothing to be sorry for. _I'm_ sorry… I wish there was something I could do…"

"Just h-hold me."

Kurt looked at him with a tortured expression on his face.

"Please," Blaine sobbed. "P-Please just hold me. I'll be o-okay if you do that."

Kurt didn't say anything then. He just leaned forward to press their bodies close together and Blaine allowed the warmth to seep into his bones.

* * *

><p>It was really late, but when Blaine finally opened his eyes after what Kurt figured was a much needed long nap, Kurt brushed his messy curls back and started talking to keep him from going back to sleep. "Are you okay?"<p>

Blaine blinked up at him, looking disoriented for a moment before his face fell, though Kurt was glad to see that his eyes were dry of tears. He shifted so that he was lying on his back, but didn't move his head from Kurt's lap. "Not really."

"Can we talk about this please?"

Blaine sighed and refocused his gaze to the ceiling. "There's not really anything to say."

"I would disagree. You really scared me, you know. I've never seen you like that. I mean, you almost fell over."

"Sorry."

Kurt shook his head. "I told you before, you don't need to be sorry. I just want to know what happened. What did he say to you?"

Blaine continued to look anywhere but at Kurt. "Why are you with me?"

"Because I love you. Why are you asking me that?"

Blaine shrugged and said nothing and Kurt sighed.

"Blaine, you can't keep shutting me out."

"I'm not—I just—there's nothing to say. He didn't say anything of any significance. I actually can't remember what he said at all, really."

He was lying. Kurt could tell.

"Why do I not believe you?" Kurt asked gently with a sigh.

Blaine scowled and jerked his head away from Kurt's hand. "I don't know," Blaine snapped. "You tell me."

"Okay, I think we're done."

The anger instantly left Blaine's expression. "No, wait. I—I didn't mean that. I'm sorry. I'm just…" Blaine shook his head and closed his eyes. "I can't do this right now. I can't talk about it because it's making me feel really… I can't, I—"

"Hey, stop, it's okay," Kurt hushed Blaine even as he broke his heart. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have pushed you. It's just that I feel like I should be helping you somehow and I don't know how to do that."

"You are helping me," Blaine said as he rolled onto his side again. He pressed his face into Kurt's stomach and wound his arms around Kurt's waist, holding him tight. "You're helping me."

Kurt honestly didn't see how that could be.

* * *

><p>"What's wrong with him?" Nick asked two days later in Potions class. Blaine had just left the table to get some supplies and Nick was taking advantage of his absence, Kurt supposed, though he couldn't say he blamed the other boy. Blaine was acting completely off. He walked around in a daze with a self-deprecating look in his eyes. Their friends had every right to be worried.<p>

"I don't really know all the details," Kurt whispered as he carefully chopped up some herbs for the potion they were making, both of which he had already forgotten the name of. "His dad was here, though. He knows Blaine left Hogwarts for Christmas."

The little knife was suddenly pulled from Kurt's hands and he turned to find Chase twirling it between his fingers.

"Give it back, Chase," Kurt said impatiently, trying hard not to think about how fast the sharp knife was moving in the Slytherin's hand.

"No," Chase said. He looked angry, though Kurt had no idea why. "You're lying. If Carl Anderson was here then Blaine would have gone down to the Chamber."

Kurt frowned. "What the hell are you talking about? What Chamber?"

"Fuck off, Dare," Nick snapped. "Mind your own bloody business."

Chase ignored Nick and took a step closer to Kurt. He twirled the knife impossibly faster.

"Stop before you lose control of it," Kurt demanded.

He did the opposite. The knife looked like a blur in the air. "I told you to stay away from him."

Nick whipped around in his seat with his wand in hand. "What the fuck does that mean?"

"Nick. Don't," Thad said quietly.

For once, Nick ignored him. "What are you threatening people now?"

Chase grinned in a mean way. "I don't think it's any of your business, Duval."

Nick pointed his wand at Chase, but Blaine, who seemed to come out of nowhere, plucked it out of Nick's hand. Then he turned to look at Chase. "Give it to me," he said in a flat voice.

Chase didn't look away from Kurt, who tried not to let his discomfort show.

"_Now_, Chase," Blaine ordered.

The knife stopped abruptly in Chase's hand and he slapped it into Blaine's waiting palm before stalking off.

Blaine turned as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened and deposited everything he was holding, including Nick's wand, onto the table. He handed Kurt his knife back. "We're out of wolfsbane, but darkroot will do the job better anyway."

Kurt searched Blaine's face carefully, but Blaine wasn't looking at him. Instead he was focusing intently on sorting out all of the ingredients he had brought over.

"Here, can you cut these for me?" he asked as he passed three dark colored spindly looking things to him, but Kurt couldn't bring himself to look away from Blaine's pinched face, and he wasn't the only one.

Blaine sighed. "Guys, seriously. Stop. I'm fine, okay?" He picked up his own knife to start cutting into a Kurt didn't know what.

Nick snorted. "Yeah, because you totally look completely fine." He made to grab his wand but Jeff grabbed it first. "Give it."

The blonde shook his head and passed it to Thad, who pocketed it. "Not right now," Jeff said, looking oddly serious.

"Whatever," Nick said. "We're getting off topic anyway. You're not fine, Blaine."

Blaine's jaw bulged ever so slightly. "Drop it, Nick."

"No, because you don't look fine."

"Well, I am!" Blaine yelled, throwing his cutting knife onto the table with such force that it bounced up dangerously before clattering to the floor. Everyone in the room immediately fell silent.

Nobody moved for a good thirty seconds. Eventually Slughorn shuffled hesitantly over. "Blaine… are you… alright?"

Blaine's entire body stiffened and for a minute Kurt thought Blaine might resort to physical violence, but then just as fast as he tensed up, he went boneless. "I'm fine," he whispered, looking anything but.

And that was it. Kurt stood up from his chair and grabbed his messenger bag as well as Blaine's. "Professor, I'm going to take him for some air."

Kurt wasn't really concerned with getting Slughorn's permission, so he wrapped an arm around his boyfriend's shoulders and pulled him to his feet without pausing to wait for the Potion Master's response. Blaine didn't protest and allowed Kurt to pull him to his feet and towards the exit without a fuss.

Neither said a word until they were halfway down the hall and then Blaine sighed and tugged back on Kurt's hand. Kurt didn't stop, though, he just kept dragging Blaine along.

"Kurt. Stop. We should go back, I'm—"

"_Don't," _Kurt snapped without bothering to look back at Blaine, "say you're fine. Not to me. You want to lie to everyone else, fine. But not to me. You're not fine."

"Alright, fine. I won't lie to you. But we still have to finish our potion."

"We can make it up some other time. Slughorn will understand."

"Kurt, we can't just keep skipping class all of the time."

"We didn't skip. We went, we left early, and we'll make it up just like I said. Slughorn adores you, so he won't make a big deal out of it."

"Where are we going then?"

"To cheer you up."

It was always freezing in the dungeon, so Kurt didn't have to worry about going up to the tower to get their cloaks because they had them on already. The bags, however, posed a problem. Or at least, Kurt's bag did. It was expensive and it was his favorite, so there was no way he was going to let it get stolen. Blaine probably couldn't care less if someone took his. Still, once they got to the entrance, Kurt used his wand to make both his and Blaine's bags invisible (even though using magic in the hallways wasn't permitted) and left them in a corner that was out of the way.

"Come on," he said, pulling Blaine towards the door. A rush of cold air blasted against them like a brick wall, but Kurt simply grit his teeth and pressed on.

"What are we doing?" Blaine asked, sounding tired and nothing like himself at all.

Kurt ignored the tone. "We're going to make snow angels."

"Kurt, no. It's too cold. Can we please go back inside?"

"Absolutely not," Kurt said as he veered off the path, forcing them both into the shin deep build up. He tried not to think of how bad off his shoes were going to be once they went back inside and pressed on, not stopping until they were a ways away from the cleared path leading back inside.

"Kurt, I'm really not in the mood for snow faeries."

"Neither am I to be honest. I'm going to get wet and it will be cold, but this is happening. You were asking me all last week to make snow faeries with you and I should have just done it. I should have because you never ask for anything and it's something so small, really, and… and I'm sorry that I kept telling you no. I shouldn't have done that because obviously doing this together is something that's important to you, and I love you, so it should be important to me, too. I'm sorry I was being an idiot about it before, but I'm here now, so…"

Blaine heaved a sigh. "I get what you're doing and thank you for trying, but right now I'm really not in the mood, okay? Now can we just go back inside because I know you don't actually want to be out here in the freezing cold."

Blaine was right, of course. He didn't want to be out here. It was cold and wet and his shoes were going to be soggy and ruined, but honestly, none of that mattered. Not when Blaine was looking at him with those huge, sad eyes that made Kurt want to lock Blaine away some place where no one could hurt him. So, no, he wasn't going anywhere. And neither was Blaine.

Trying not to think about it too much, Kurt slowly lowered himself down to sit in the snow, ignoring Blaine's protests. He also ignored that cold wetness seeping into his clothes and looked expectantly up at Blaine. "You aren't seriously going to make me do this by myself are you?"

Blaine heaved a sigh, putting his whole body into it. "Kurt…"

"Please?" Kurt asked, trying a different tactic. "Do it for me?"

Hesitation blossomed in Blaine's eyes and Kurt knew that he had him. Blaine didn't disappoint, either. Sighing once more, he sat down in his own snow pile an arm's length away from Kurt.

Kurt smiled in thanks and Blaine responded with a short-lived upwards curl of his lips that didn't reach his eyes, but that was okay. For now.

"Ready?" Kurt asked and when Blaine nodded, Kurt let his body fall back completely against the cushioning snow.

It felt unnatural at first—too juvenile and too silly, but then Blaine wordlessly grabbed Kurt's hand and the discomfort washed away. They moved together then, pushing their legs out and in as they simultaneously moved their arms up and down. Kurt looked up at the never-ending gray sky and allowed himself to become slightly lost inside it. If it wasn't for Blaine's hand clasped tightly around his own, Kurt was sure that he would have lost all sense of himself completely in his vastness. Blaine anchored him, though, and kept him safe inside of himself as he blinked away the snowflakes that tried to fall in his eyes. The frozen drops of icy fluff kissed his cheeks, tickling and burning at the same time but Blaine's hand remained warm and constant in his hand.

It was easy to pretend like they were the only two people in the world.

When Blaine finally spoke, his voice cracked. "Kurt," was all he said before he rolled away his snow faerie and into Kurt's arms.

With Blaine lying completely on top of him, Kurt accepted Blaine's weight and wrapped his arms securely around the smaller boy as they both sank a bit farther into the snow.

"I want stay here forever and forget everything but you," Blaine said. The skin of his forehead warmed the left side of Kurt's face.

"I know." He pushed the edge of his lips against Blaine's skin.

Blaine whimpered in response. "Please don't ever leave me."

Kurt clasped his own arms, pulling them tighter. "I won't."

* * *

><p>Kurt usually looked forward to the weekly Dumbledore's Army meetings.<p>

Despite being the Herbology teacher, Professor Longbottom was a surprisingly adequate teacher of high level offensive and defensive spells that were not included in the school's curriculum. He didn't always perform the spells successfully during demonstrations, but his ability to accept his own shortcomings and simply try again until he got it right seemed to make even the most skittish students comfortable enough to try new things and make mistakes of their own.

Professor Sylvester, however, who co-ran the meetings with Longbottom, was another matter entirely. As a precautionary means of keeping the club's enrollment high, only the most confident and skillful students worked with her.

Kurt himself didn't mind her so much. She was rude to an unnecessary degree, but she knew her stuff so he didn't complain. Much. And in spite of the fact that Chase Dare was not only a member of the DA, but a member of Professor Sylvester's group as well, Kurt usually had a lot of fun. Not tonight, though. Tonight he was too preoccupied with counting down the minutes until he could go back to Blaine.

"Professor Slyvester is insane if she thinks I'm poking around in your mind next week," Wes told Kurt with a distasteful look on his face as the two of them helped to set the Defense classroom back to sorts. Out of all of Kurt's Ravenclaw and Gryffindor friends Wes the only one who was in Dumbledore's Army. Back in the beginning of the year, Ted had wanted to join too, but Longbottom and Sylvester only accepted students who were year 5 and up.

Wes continued to grouch and he absently went about his work. "I refuse. Occlumency lessons be damned. Longbottom said we could opt out if we wanted, and I'm opting out."

Kurt stopped what he was doing to fold his arms across his chest. "And just what is so wrong with my mind?"

"You think I want to see Blaine naked?" Wes asked as he flicked his wand to put a few more chairs up on the newly rearranged desks. "No, thank you."

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Please. You're not going to see Blaine naked."

"Yeah, how do you know? It's not like you can control your thoughts."

Kurt glared at the other boy. He really didn't feel like having this conversation in a room full of DA students. However, knowing Wes, the subject wouldn't be dropped until he deemed it droppable. Kurt took a quick look around the mostly put back together classroom. Everyone was busy with the post-meeting clean up and the room was loud with post meeting conversation. Longbottom and Sylvester were bickering in the far left corner, no doubt still over the fact that less than ten minutes ago Professor Sylvester had announced she would begin teaching her group members how to invade each other's personal thoughts (a ploy that hadn't gone over well with the Herbology teacher at all).

Kurt figured it was relatively safe.

"I don't have to control my thoughts because I haven't _seen _him naked. No more than you have in the dorms or the Quidditch locker rooms, anyway."

Wes looked genuinely surprised at that. "Seriously?"

"Yes, seriously." Kurt scoffed. "Why is it that everyone thinks Blaine and I are addicted to sex? Brittany gives me at least two different contraceptive Charms a week, which aside from the obvious, is completely unnecessary, and Puck keeps asking me how gay sex feels." Kurt rolled his eyes. "So, please, enlighten me. However, know now that if you say anything about gays and promiscuity I will kill you dead."

"Well, I wasn't going to _say_ it."

"Ugh."

"Hi, Kurt," was hotly whispered into Kurt's ear, and he jerked away as a tremor of disgust twisted itself around his spine.

Chase smirked down at him. "Something wrong?"

"_Don't _touch me."

The smirk slipped from Chase's face. "Don't flatter yourself. As if I would ever touch you. You actually repulse me."

There was such raw honesty in the other boy's eyes that Kurt's stomach rolled. He tried his best not to let his discomfort show. "Then stay away from me."

Chase smiled at his words as if delighted. "I would, but you were having such an _interesting_ conversation, I couldn't help myself."

"I don't see why you would," Wes said tightly. "I think you should just go back to whatever it was you were doing."

Chase lifted his chin a degree and stared hard at Kurt. Excitement reflected brilliantly in his slightly hooded eyes. "Maybe the thought of Blaine naked turns me on."

Kurt's breath sucked in like a whistle and his stomach dropped to the floor. His face grew hot under the intensity in Chase's stare—an intensity that tried to tell him something he knew he wouldn't want to be told.

Beside him, Kurt felt Wes tense up. "You're disgusting," he told Chase. "Come on, Kurt. We don't have to listen to this."

Kurt let Wes drag him away, and Chase didn't try to follow. The discomfort he felt stayed trapped inside, though, churning hotly under his skin.

"Merlin, he's sick," Wes shook his head angrily, charging full speed into a rant. "I feel bad for his girlfriend. She's the one who has to practice Occumancy with him next meeting. I shudder to think of what goes on in his mind. Then again, she's dating him so she's probably sick, too."

"Yeah," Kurt said softly, only half listening. He willed the pit in his stomach to go away.

Wes looked back at him with a curious expression on his face. "Hey… Don't worry about it. He does stuff like that on purpose to get under your skin. He does it to everybody. It doesn't mean anything," Wes said, but Kurt could tell he was nervous.

"Okay."

"Really, Kurt, it's nothing," Wes insisted after answering the riddle that would let them in the Tower.

"Okay." He really just wanted to be alone right now. To process things. Blaine needed him, though. "I'm going up to Blaine. I'm tired."

Kurt wished that Wes would stop looking at him with that pinched look on his face. It was putting him on edge. "Yeah. Alright. See you tomorrow," he said, though he looked like he wanted chain Kurt to one of the chairs instead.

Kurt ignored the rest of the sixth year boys on his way to the stairs.

When he stepped inside the dormitory, Kurt found Blaine curled up on his bed, his arms wrapped tightly around one of Kurt's pillows. A quick look showed him that Blaine's face was dry, so if he had fallen asleep crying, it had been a long time ago. Still, his boyfriend looked anything but content and Kurt sat down on the edge of the bed to brush Blaine's messy curls back from his forehead. He leaned down to place a kiss there and Blaine hummed in his sleep.

For the past five months he and Blaine had spent every single day together. Suddenly five months seemed like no time at all. It was the blink of an eye, really—such a small increment in time, and Kurt began to question whether he _really _knew the boy he was in love with.

A while ago Blaine had basically told him that there was something wrong with Chase, and Kurt believed that was true. Blaine had also told him not to trust anything Chase said. Not five minutes ago Wes had told him the same thing. Kurt wanted to believe them, but he couldn't get the look on the Slytherin's face out of his mind. The emotion in Chase's eyes had looked so raw to Kurt that he couldn't help but wonder how it could possibly have been fabricated.

Kurt stood up abruptly. He didn't want to think about it. Practically ripping the clothes from his body, he changed into his pajamas and walked to the other side of the bed and climbed on top. Stretching out beside Blaine, Kurt buried his face in the back of the other boy's neck. He closed his eyes and tried to block out everything that wasn't the feel of Blaine's smaller body against his or the silky sweet smell of Blaine's untamed hair clouding his senses.

Blaine was his boyfriend. Blaine was the person he was in love with. Blaine was the person who mattered most and he deserved the benefit of the doubt.

* * *

><p>AN: I'd like to say I'm sorry for the long wait and it won't happen again, but unfortunately I can't make that promise. The I'm sorry still stands, however. Unfortunately because of ONE class my schedule got more hectic instead of calming down so it looks like monthly updates might be the norm until the end of this semester. But we'll see. I'll still try my best to get them out faster.

Anyway, I apologize for all the drama. It just came out that way. I also apologize for Chase! And I should probably include Blaine's father in that apology too... how I torture that poor boy.

For the most part I have no idea what the next chapter will include. I'm thinking about including Sue's Occlumency/Legilimency lessons and maybe some Quidditch stuff, and obviously Blaine's issues need to be addressed some more. Other than that, though, who knows?

For anyone who doesn't know what Occlumency and Legilimency are, Occlumency is the practice of defending one's mind against magical attack and Legilimency is the practice of magically invading another person's mind. And yes I realize that it would be pretty stupid of McGonagall to allow minors to poke around in each other's personal thoughts, which is why it won't exactly go down that way despite Sue's objections ;)

Until next time!

-Cerez


End file.
